(Left to right) East side of Stockholm St./St. Aloysius Church/The 'Cobblestone' of Stockholm. Street

I was pleasantly surprised to find a whole lot of people from my old neighborhood, Ridgewood, New York on Facebook. It has been so much fun connecting with more and more friends and people from there – so I thought it would be fun to write a series of blogs on Ridgewood. I hope everyone that reads this series (and especially if from Ridgewood) leaves a comment about their own memories. I can’t remember it all myself, you know! So let’s have some fun!

It’s funny… whenever I beam back in my mind to my childhood growing up on Stockholm Street, between Seneca Avenue and Cypress Avenue; across from what we used to refer to as the “new” St. Aloysius Elementary School, I seem to remember the smells first! My older brother, dad and mom lived on the third floor of a 3-floor apartment building in what was called a “railroad” apartment because of the way the apartment was laid out – all in a row. The building was situated right next to a textile factory on the corner, so when the wind was blowing right, our apartment smelled like the chemicals of the factory. Trust me, more than once I pondered the possibility that I may have contracted the cancer with which I was diagnosed from inhaling those chemicals all those years. The suspicious thing was that in that one 3-apartment apartment building, my Grandmother lived there and died of breast cancer, my Aunt Rosie lived there and died of a rare blood cancer, my cousin Carmela developed breast cancer and I was diagnosed with Hodgkin’s lymphoma – that’s a whole lot of people to have been stricken with cancer from one little apartment building… but I digress. This series of articles that I wanted to write is about growing up in Ridgewood, not about cancer.

For those of you who aren’t familiar with Ridgewood, it’s what is referred to as an “immigrant neighborhood.” Ridgewood has been the first place for many immigrants to live, when they came to the U.S. The Germans and Irish were the first to live there, and then came the Italians. We were looked at with disdain especially by the old Germans as poor “ginnys” and by the old Irish as greasy “wops” (WithOut Papers). By the time I was born in 1963, Stockholm St., between Seneca and Cypress was pretty much split between Germans and Italians, with the vast majority of the Italians being Sicilian. We were Napolitano which meant that while the rest of my friends were ready to stab you in the back, we were stirring the gravy while singing “Vicino al Mare.” I think we Italians brought real color to the neighborhood. I can still remember the knife & scissors man coming up our street when I was a little boy with his cart to sharpen all the knives and scissors; the Bodese ice man delivering blocks of ice for the old ladies like my “Ziadalina” (translated is “Aunt Adeline”) who still owned “ice boxes” instead of refrigerators; and the “Biancalina” Man aka the man that delivered bleach in big glass jugs.

My brother and I are really only ½ Napolitano because my dad was not Italian at all, he was French and Spanish. There were hardly any French that we knew of in Ridgewood and although we were Spanish from Spain, it was better in those days NOT to make it known that my grandmother’s name was Carmen and that I had an Uncle Ramon and Uncle Jose. When referring to my dad’s mom, she was simply Grandma and the Uncles became Uncle Ray and Uncle Joe. Italians and Puerto Ricans (who were the next wave of immigrants into Ridgewood) did NOT get along and I didn’t want my young life to become the second coming of “West Side Story,” so we made sure everyone considered us Italian. That was pretty easy because my mom was 1st generation Americana and our last name “de Marigny” was always mispronounced as “de-mar-IG-knee,” so it sounded kind of Italian.

My memories of Ridgewood in the 60’s is hazy, partially because I was so young and partially because of all of the pot being smoked all over the neighborhood. I can still remember teenage boys going to Viet Nam and either not coming home at all or coming home “men in uniform.” The first thing most of them did upon being discharged was to grow their hair long, put on a tie-dye shirt and put beat-up sandals on their feet (that was how my young mind perceived it). I watched my elementary school, St. Aloysius being built across the street from our apartment building, when I was 4 years old. I also watched the World Trade Center being built from that same apartment window. We all referred to it as the “twin towers” …it was a doubly-sad event for me to see those towers fall, because I saw them built and because I lost a friend in the towers.

Over the next few blogs, I’m going to do my best to remember all I can about this very unique place, “Ridgewood” at a very unique time, the 1970’s. A time when the country changed a lot but our neighborhood didn’t change very much at all. In fact, when I look back now, the sixteen years that I lived in Ridgewood was the most stable time of my entire life, in terms of change …or more precisely, the lack of change.

I know, I started slow here, but it’s all starting to come back to me …like the sound of air conditioners in the windows, in the summer… the church bells ringing on Sunday followed closely by the procession of the old widows dressed in black walking up my street to go to church. The constant sound of the fire engine and police sirens echoing all over the neighborhood day and night …sometimes in the background and occasionally so close we ran to the window to see… the sound of the garbage truck stopping on my street and those metal cans being slammed to the ground… the sounds of kids… so many kids, playing all sorts of games from the girls jumping rope and playing hop scotch to the boys playing stickball and boys and girls both playing street tops, skelzie, ringolerio and johnny-on-the-pony. Nothing was better than hearing “Mike the ice cream man” coming up the street in his Good Humor truck, the one with the 4 bells that he would ring mounted over the windshield… or the sound of Mr. Freeze, you remember that song that stayed in your mind forever. Da-dum da da da da dum da da… The smell of barbecues going in everyone’s back yards in the summer and the smell of all the different ethnic cooking inside people’s homes… Italian food, German food, Polish food… buying and selling fireworks… carrying around two or three tow truck cards so we could call them if we saw an accident and get paid a commission… collecting hubcaps and then selling them to the car places down by Summerfield St. …which reminds me… Summerfield St. and the Italian restaurant that used to be there, “John’s of Summerfield St.” where you had to walk through the store to the back where there were a few tables and this nice Italian lady who would serve you (we used to order from there on Friday’s and the food would all come in these aluminum trays with the white lids ...mm-mmm, I can still taste the chicken cutlet parm! So many memories – most were fun, some were sad – but all was uniquely “Ridgewood!”

I have started writing my own stories many many times, and reading your stories, sound like you stole them from me, ha ha ha, except my beginnings were in Kensington, Brooklyn, and my 3 story apartment building was near the el. The part you wrote about the Vietnam war struck me, because although we are basically being the same age, you being a year older, I have one vivid memory. There was a family on my block, 3 boys, 3 girls, Italian. Sal the middle son was in the army. I remember him being my first crush, and I was outside alone, about 8, a time when kids could be outside. I remember watching Sal come out of his apartment building in full dress, and it was a surreal experience, because it was only he and I that were out that day. He walked to the corner of Cortelyou Rd and E. 2nd St., he did that Army turn, and I remember running to the corner and watched him disappear. He was one of those boys that came home, grew his hair long, wore tie-dye, and became a heroin addict. He ended up dying of a drug overdose in the early 80's being yet another victim of the Vietnam War. Keep 'em coming. I might even be inspired to actually create a blog and write up my own stories of Brookly and Queens and the difference I found between New Yorkers instead of keeping notebooks all over the place.

Diane!You see, it's all the same - old neighborhoods are all very similar. My wife was born and raised in South Philly (ROCKY-land) and although she's a few years younger than I, the stories and characters, sounds and smells are very similar.

I could almost picture your Sal in my mind and I felt like I was there with you on that corner, on that day! You should write a blog or something... get those memories on record!

Thank you for reading my insanity and keep in touch!

Peace,gp.s. ...more to come!

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Lynda Saroli-Bevilacqua

3/23/2010 19:53:29

I watched the building Twin Towers from my bedroom window. It was a part of my growing up. It was difficult to see them fall.

When is the last time you were back? After our reunion party last April, a group of us toured the neighborhood. There were 7 of us stuffed in my car and we drove past each of our houses and the school and, of course, the church. It was a great night - like growing up in Ridgewood, something we will never forget!

I haven't been back to Ridgewood since I received some of my staging for my cancer back in 1996.

They knocked 1726 Stockholm St. down - the apartment building where I grew up. I so wanted to bring my boys to see it and St. A's but alas... all I have now is a photo of it that we have in our family room. I like to look at it ...to remind me where I come from.

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Mary

3/23/2010 20:18:33

I remember cloth and debris coming out of the chimney of that factory and falling into your pool.

Ooch!I remember one time some weird chemicals came out of that factory's smoke stack and it turned all of the Roggio's and our white laundry blue!

Oh yeah, great memory, glad you reminded me... used to hear so many mom's yelling out the window... "Frankie... come home... Ber...nard... Ger...ard! (I still have nightmares about when my name is said in 2 syllables like my mom used to yell out the window... it meant I was in deep do-do!

Of course I remember the pretzel man, he used to get his pretzels at the same place I did when I sold them, at the Starr Street Pretzel factory. I used to love those pretzels... making me hungry for them now!

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Mary

3/23/2010 20:42:56

I thought the pretzel man (that was his name) MADE those pretzels. Who knew?! I didn't know there was a pretzel factory on Starr Street. then again, I didn't know there was life beyond Stockholm Street when I was little.

Remember the factory would leave those downstairs windows open. Lisa and I used to throw stuff down at the poor seamstresses through the metal grating on the windows and they would yell at us. lol

I also remember playing ring and run a lot. Did we really think we weren't going to get caught? We were doing it to our own neighbors. hahaha

I have fond memories of us getting all dressed up on Sunday morning and your father walking all of us kids (there were quite a few of us) to St. Aloysius Church. Then we would all get together to eat...and eat...and eat. I used to LOVE Sundays when I was a kid.

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Jimmy Wellinghoff

3/23/2010 20:49:09

Very nice writing G, I'm sorry to hear about the amount of family members and yourself stricken by cancer. I do remember Ridgewood,NY best place to grow up.We were such a mixed group,all unique in there own way. There were a few characters also, give you some ammo for your next blog G, like " Crazy George", " Himmie" across from the church who chased us when we played stickball. Ralph the man with OCD that stood on the c/o Forest& Metro rubbing his hands like he was washing them. "Joe the dog" sitting on the fire hydrant c/o Elliot & Fresh Pond rd.Russ the cook from Eagles Nest. BTW Mike the ice cream man.. Bungaow Bar.. Little white truck with a house roof. Who besides my friends & I snuck up to the bells in St. A's steaple?

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Dennis Barvels

5/3/2013 08:41:50

Are you related to Eddie Wellinghoff from Stanhoppe St.?

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gary livoti

9/7/2013 09:44:45

I remember crazy George riding his bike all over Brooklyn. He used to wash my grandparents windows on Suydam Street.

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lois mo r uz z i

4/10/2014 19:00:05

I remember crazy George and Mike the ice cream man....I lived on Rene ct. My sister bought the house e,we grew up in.

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Dennis Loughlin

8/7/2014 20:27:27

Lois Moruzzi. My maternal grandparents, Marie and Charles Bily, lived across the street from you from the late forties till the early sixties. My mom, Evelyn and dad, Barney Loughlin and I lived there as well. I remember playing with Craig Moruzzi when I was younger than 6. My dad was also a NYPD officer just like Craig's dad.

Wow, lived in ridgewood from 63-1982,finally had it. I remember it all, watched it all transform ,like being awoken from a dream won't dare visit it ever. I want to remember it the way it was and how I was part of it. Went to st Brigid's St.A's, p.s. 81 ,grover Cleveland .will never forget the eagles nest " belly bombers" (hamburgers) ,Russ ,Alphonse the owner from Germany,Charlie the day bartender who never smiled and my father Ray the evening bartender who made everyone laugh.crazy George,yes himmie too,how about crazy Mary aka Mary apples because that's what we did ,threw apples at her,the cat lady,the reputed house on the corner of Seneca &Stanhope,w/ the weeds and grass growing haywire (scary at night),ring and run,(ha ha ha .got a whooping for that one.Fathers friends house, he pinned me out of all the kids, I guess it was the wrong bell! The list goes on

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Anita Maier Bischoff

7/31/2015 14:46:30

I remember my mom bring home pretzels after Sunday mass at OLMM with NY Times. I think they were 3 for 25 cents? A man sold them across from the church.Now $4 or $5?? in NYC I'm told. There was also a man who sold pretzels on Cooper Ave. near St. John's cemetery. I used to pass him in the 70's when I was teaching at P.S. 68 on St. Felix Ave. Got them for the first graders as a treat once. i haven't found a good pretzel since!!!

Jimmy!THAT WAS HIS TRUCK! Mike's truck! I will never forget that old man, he used to smoke filtered cigarettes! The little white truck with the house roof!

Crazy George... we all used to run into him at BOHACKS! He would act up in there right after he paid for his groceries!

I remember OCD Ralph too!

WOW, you got up to those bells?! They were waaay up there! I don't think many even know how to get up there!

Eagles Nest... and Russ... I'm getting hungry even thinking about those hamburgers! My brother and his crew used to hang in there drinking pitchers and doing depth chargers... dropping shots into their beer.

I used to own a "CB" and we used to have our "breaks" these crazy get-togethers in there! haha!

There were certain "cool" people in Ridgewood... Jimmy Roggio, Eddie Koshel ...and I think Jimmy Wellinghoff too, although I was just a wee lad back then! haha!

Will try my best to weave a few of your suggestions into my next blogs...

oh... and Jimmy... its a "johnnie pump" where we came from! 9-)

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Phyllis Impollonia Fogg

1/14/2012 12:51:45

My Dad was Mike of Mike's Candy Store at the corner of Centre and Seneca Avenue. Haven't been home in years! I was a St. Mathias girl.

I would be great to get in touch with some old neighborhood friends.

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Pat Delahanty

1/21/2012 22:07:22

Hi Phyllis, not sure if you remember me. We used to play softball in 77 across from your house back in the early 70's. I used to hang with you & your cousin Diane Troje once in a while. Would love to hear from you. Take care. Pat Delahanty (Club Royale).

mickey

1/24/2012 22:06:16

do you have a sister andrea . when I went to mikes I thought the daughters name was andrea she used to hang out with my sister linda . we live on george street between seneca and myrtle

mickey

1/24/2012 22:19:01

my sister used to play softball a lot in 77 park . her name is linda chester . she was a tomboy . do you guys know her ?

Ken

12/5/2012 18:23:12

Hey Phyllis, if your Dad owned Mike's then you must know the DeLaRosas. Mike's was the one with the little window where you bought the Italian ices right? I lived on George St. between Wycoff and Cypress. Went to PS 68 in the `60's. I live in Florida now but I'm going to NYC to see my mom (she lives in S. Ozone Pk.) and I plan to spend a day in Ridgewood walking around.

Darlene (nee) Bamberger

1/25/2013 19:09:05

Phyllis, I believe we were classmates at St. Matthias. Graduated in '69. Sister Simeone was my eighth grade home room.
I found this site googling around looking for the street the Eagle's Nest was on. My husband and I were watching Diners,DriveIns & Dives and were talking about burgers and nothing has ever come close to the Eagles Nest.
I lived on 60th Lane & Cooper Ave across from Paula's Pub (formerly Schrimpf's) and unfortunately last year, the last of our friends from that neighborhood passed away and now the place is so wholly different than when I moved away (all the way out to the Island) in '79 then out of state in '84 that I don't want to go back anymore. Glendale/Ridgewood was a great place to grow up. I used to walk or ride my bike with no fear of the present day boogeyman types. Although I remember some of the crazies: Smokie, who picked up used cigar butts from the streets, the Witch on the hill.
68 Park was a stomping ground because I loved handball!
I'd love to name names of neighbors and other classmates, because I remember a lot of them, but not sure if they'd appreciate that. Maybe with some coaxing... :0)

gene mclaughlin

3/31/2013 13:14:05

At Darlene Bamberger - we were neighbors grew up with your brother Wayne and sister Joanne. Would be interesting to connect

ronnie stubing

12/3/2013 12:04:54

Hi Phyllis,
I used to hang out at 77 school yard. I remember your folks store well. You used to date a guy who we called Snake.

Born in '49 and living on LI, I often visited my paternal grandparents (Victor and Catherine Maillard, 1707 Centre Street) in the fifties and early sixties and would even at a very young age be allowed to walk up the block to your Dad's store, often to buy a Spaldene. I remember one time when I forget my dime and was given the ball anyway, just told to pay for it next time!

Frank Segreti

6/17/2013 21:59:18

Hey Phyllis its Frank Segreti from Center St would like to here from you

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Joe Corsello

11/17/2013 13:42:35

Hi Jimmy, I also remember Mike and Crazy George along with The Eagles Nest and the CB days. Regarding OCD Ralph, was he the guy always rubbing his hands?

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ray

6/18/2015 08:54:16

Oh yeah, Eddie koschel, he was a JR. I knew his father ,the band instructor for St.Aloysius blue eagles.( iPlayer drums. Eddies mom was a math teacher. at the school. My second grade math teacher to be exact. I will never forget her stunning blond hair. Which Eddie inherited along w/ his sky blue eyes gave him the "cool factor"

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William Ritger

6/17/2010 21:24:12

I lived on Harmon St and left when I went into the Navy in 1953.Went to St Aloysius and also PS 71. I think about the area often.Have not been in Ridgewood since 1981.Have a lot of memories,some good and some not so good.I live in Montmorenci SC now and plan on coming up this summer.I think i will just walk around and reminisce of tines past.

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Anita

6/20/2010 07:17:25

I remember Beneck's? Drug Store on Onderdonk Ave. I used to date a Paul Muller who lived on Onderdonk Ave. and worked at the drug store. I lived on Grove and Fairview. How the area has changed. It was great growing up there.There was also a carnival every summer near GC Park with a wonderful ferris wheel.

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Dennis

3/28/2012 22:08:55

I believe the name of the drugstore was Beneckson's. I grew up on Harman and Mr . Beneckson was a friend of my parents. He was a really good man- took care of alot of people in the neighborhood who couldn't afford their meds.

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Ken Scheu

12/2/2014 21:35:19

I can still here him on the phone placing an order(that I would eventually stock) "Beneckson's Pharmacy 465 Onderdonk ave.!"

ray

6/18/2015 09:04:50

Absolutely,and two blocks over was Bello's pharmacy, how can we never ever forget Marty the Butcher right next store, hay on the floor,and if you were good while it took mommy forever to get the meat, Marty would give you a lollipop

Anita Bischoff

8/30/2012 23:19:05

Perhaps we dated Paul Muller at the same time. All the girls were crazy about him. My best friend in college Liz Schneider from Grover Cleveland also dated him. We still laugh about that!!! I wonder what happened to him?

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Tim

5/31/2014 14:09:53

He is living in Port Orchard, Washington. I'm his little brother and I live in Glenwood Springs Colorado now a days. I also remember crazy George riding his bicycle with the big sissy bar with a bird house on top and a huge radio strapped to the handle bars. He later switched to a motorcycle.

Went to PS 77 with Sandy,Susan,Nancy,live 1735 Norman St,went to the R K O movies,St Matthias Church,didn't go to Grover Cleveland High school because we move to Selden Long Island.1960 I think!My Siter Margie brother Danny,Andrew pass away age 37yrs old

Anita Maier Bischoff

7/31/2015 14:19:14

Hi Tim,just found this again. Would love to get in touch with Paul Muller in Washington. I wonder if he would remember me and Liz Schneider?

Ken Scheu

11/27/2014 22:12:51

My first job was at Beneckson's pharmacy when I was 13. Went to St. Brigids. Remember Eagles Nest ( my older brothers went there) and also recall the name Pat Delahanty!!

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ray

6/18/2015 09:00:43

Remember the little Kodak camera shop,(Fairview/Grove St. My classmate George parents owned it the last name might be firl.lpronounced like the word girl w/ an F

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Lynne

7/15/2010 15:06:45

My parents owned Cherry Valley Dairy on Himrod and Seneca for years. Lots of great people there!

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Jackie

2/28/2012 23:44:21

Was your dads name Pete?

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ray

6/18/2015 09:07:41

In the 70's during my grover Cleveland days, I would get my hero sandwich there everyday! That's cool!

I remember Beneck's Anita. I used to like how they sold a few games out of the drug store.

Cool Lynne! It was funny how we used to go to Cozy Shack for certain things and Cherry Valley for other things ...and I always stopped at the "Beer Distributor" across the street because they sold 16ounce Pepsi's for 25-cents ...and you could win money if you peeled open the cap! haha... Peace and thanks everyone for your comments!

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Pat

11/25/2010 20:47:35

trying to remember the name of an ice cream parlor on Myrtle Avenue north of forest avenue .....

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april connolly

1/25/2013 16:21:30

It was Murkens ice cream parlor. I grew up on Seneca Ave & Himrod St. but in 1972 they bought a house on Decatur & Forest & we moved there. Three blocks from Murkens. Loved that place

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Joanne

5/14/2013 17:59:50

It was MERKEN'S!!!

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Vivian McCormack

9/6/2013 17:47:33

Merkins Ice Cream Parlor.. then Koletty's was down further toward wyckoff if I remember right.

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Dotty

3/19/2015 19:51:02

Odings Ice cream parlor...spent lots of time there in the early 60's

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JIM

5/25/2015 10:33:09

Yes! I remember odings, my dad had a curtain store on the block from 1956-1958 called Jaylin, do you remember?

Anita Maier Bischoff

7/31/2015 15:02:07

I used to eat lunch at Merkens every Friday when I taught at P.S. 68. We walked there. Best egg creams and ice cream sodas and BLT's. The man behind the counter became a guard at the Ridgewood Savings Bank. I liked Collettis, too. That was near the old Parthenon theater near Urdang's Women's Store. Went there on a date with Ronald Floria when I was 16 and he 18 and a freshman at St. John's University! I think he lived on Stockholm St.? and worked in some supermarket on Seneca near DeKalb Ave. Btw, I am in touch with MaryellenBittel from Greene Ave., Ted Andersron, Lou Muller and Rudy Santoro. We get together about 2x a year!

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Bill from Forest ave.

3/4/2011 17:10:30

The name of the ice cream parlor was Merken's. Remember Stanjack auto accessories, Vollmerdings Bar, Galopters sporting goods, TSS and the rug store across the street.

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Richard Ilardi

3/28/2013 19:55:21

My dad bought me my first bike at Stan-Jaks

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Raymond kopp

6/18/2015 08:37:07

Richie did you go to St Aloysius,your name rings abell

Joanne

5/14/2013 18:03:04

How about Waxgeiser's Stationary store, the A&P, the Art Cove, the Glenwood Bowling Alley, and Martha's Candy Kitchen? Good times!

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Bill Vollmerding

5/5/2015 15:53:14

Weird I found this thread. I'm Vollmerding Jr. How you all doing?
My memories are from the 60"s mostly, I remember Jacks Pizza across the street from the bar. Great pizza and lemon water ice!

Funny story RE: Merken's. My dad used to take me and my brother there all the time. He loved it. So much so, that when he was in Wyckoff Heights hospital having one of his kidney's removed - he actually 'escaped' one day and took a cab down to Merken's. Everyone in there in knew him - which was a good thing because he didn't even have enough for his favorite Egg Cream. They gave him one on the house and gave him car-fare back to the hospital. You don't hear too many stories like that anymore!

Galopters!! wow ... I can still remember the smell of that store!

Thanks for the comment!

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Erika

3/4/2011 19:31:31

I had my bridal shower in Vollmerdings!!!!

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Jimmy

3/4/2011 22:04:21

Speaking of smells G.. How about that stink from the company on Review Ave. in Greenpoint, don't remember the name, but stunk out the naighborhood! I remember people trying to close them down for years. I think they cooked fat for soap.

No one in Ridgewood (especially near Stockholm St.) will ever forget that smell Jimmy!

I'm embarrassed to say that sometimes ... it smelled good to me ... made me hungry! Probably 'cause they spewed that stuff around lunchtime!

I also lived next to the 'factory' on the corner of Stockholm & Seneca. So, we had all those chemical smells (textile mill) to inhale - they didn't make me hungry, they made us sick! They also turned all of our white St. Aloysius school shirts grey from the soot their smokestack put out.

Will never forget the smells of Ridgewood, Jimmy, thanks!

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Denis Cullinan

11/2/2012 15:38:26

Speaking of unhealthy air pollution, when my wife and I moved into 355 Stockholm Street in 1972 (across from Wyckoff Heights hospital), a big "asbestos storm" filled the air, the asbestos being blown from a hospital construction site. Gave me a big scare, but I'm still around 40 years later! I got a ton of good memories too but not enough room for them right now.

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Bob

3/15/2011 19:58:22

My Mom grew up on the historic block of Stockholm St. She lived at 1881 Stockholm. Her aunts and uncles lived at 1873 Stockholm St. My grandparents lost the house in the late 30's due to the depression. It was heartbreaking for them. However, I still remember visiting the aunts and uncles at 1873 Stockholm. I have great memories of those visits. Haven't been back in years, but would love to come visit that beautiful street. My parents were married at St Aloysius Church and I was baptized there along with my siter and brother. I lived on Onderdonk Ave for the first 3 years of my life but what I really remember is Stockholm Street.

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ray

6/18/2015 09:12:04

I knew a Scotty Jost, the Zummo family and Laurie Kohler, the girl who had an eye operation to save her vision.

Walking up to the 1800 block of Stockholm Street (I lived at 1726) was like walking into a time machine. The cobblestone street leading up to the cemetery (with headstones dating back to the 1700's).

I'm with you Bob, something I'll never forget.

Thanks for sharing!
g

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golleey

3/21/2011 19:25:37

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Bill

4/1/2011 16:56:46

I have begun recently getting in touch with some of my old friends using FB.
The memories are really starting to come back and thanks to your blog, they are streaming in quickly.
I was born in 62 and I too had the same impression of the returning Vets.
I remember the music because we had 2 rock bands that practiced in basements on my street. Hancock street right on the Bushwick/Ridgewood boarder.
Saint Martin of Tours was my school.
Spanish from Spain and German on my fathers side gave our olive skin good cover as German Italian.
Some of the unique thinks that I remember as a kid is the games that we played. Skelzie( spell check) is a game that I have never seen played outside of Ridgewood.
We had the push cart fruit merchants as well as the hot Sweet Potato's and the knife sharpener. We also had real shoemakers in the area where we bought our shoes.

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ray

6/18/2015 09:46:27

Hi Bill, my mom lived on Hancock & knickerbocker,her aunt Dorothy,(Dottie) was a school teacher at St. Martin of Tours for 30+ yes.

We had a rock band that half the neighborhood heard - Blakey White's band that played "Sunshine of Your Love" over and over and over ... haha! Anyone remember Mrs. White who lived next to St. A's schoolyard on DeKalb Ave? We must have broken that poor lady's window by playing stickball about 100 times! (grin)

I didn't know there were any people of true Spanish descent in Ridgewood, Bill. We could have started our own secret society! (grin) On second thought, it was probably better we didn't.

Hot sweet potatoes ... mmm, who needed candy!

I wanted to be a shoemaker, just because of how cool those German shoemaker stores were and smelled.

Thanks for sharing your memories!

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Rich Ilardi

10/14/2014 15:27:53

anyone know the wherabouts of Blake White. Lost contact with him back in 1976. Recently at a party his name came up. It was some of the guys you mention in his band.

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Anthony P

4/4/2011 06:14:56

Helllllo!!!! Ridgewood, I lived on Onderdonk ave. directly accross from the church. Doe's anyone remember the
'car barns", hung out there. They tore them down AAND MADE A PARK. That park became known as "Angel Dust Park" acording to the daily news. The guys I knew had names like "Red" "Baby Sal" "Carmine" "Sky" "Hector" "Stanley" Any of you guys out there? We moved a lot, I lived on Stockholn Street between Nickerbocker and Irving. Harman between Irving and Wychoff. Mom worked at the hospital. The dinner on Dekalb and Wychoff was a good place to get a hamberger and fries and coffee at 2 in the morning.

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Nancy

3/28/2012 19:06:55

i remember a Red snd Carmine from Wykoff and Myrtle during the drug days

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Rick Gross

1/16/2013 17:10:47

HI I remember the old neighborhood too and used to have a very good friend named cathy barrows? who lived across from the church on onderdonk too. I was too young to remember the spelling but I remember her living with her granfather and us playing records on an old hand cranked phonograph! I also remember the stilwell's around the corner on Stanhope street. My family moved around 1970 :(

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raymond

6/18/2015 09:29:00

Rick,congrats you hit the jackpot, the Stillwell's are my aunt & uncle (Marty& Eileen,) Bobby and Marty Jr. My cousins. Do you remember that Marty Jr. Was 6'2 and Bobby was only 5ft. The Barrows ,no relation,but close friends,you had Betty the mom,The boys Donald and Buddy,the girls Cathy and Chickie,them "gramps" who grew tomatoes in the back yard,finally the dad "Johnny the painter, I should remember because my dad Ray hung out w/johnny at that bar,"The Two Kioodles" how cool it is!!!

Bill from forest ave.

8/15/2011 05:39:06

There was a woman we called "Crazy Mary". She would walk and follow us
the whole day. There was a guy we called "Shell Shock John" Use to walk around and talk to himself all day. He smoked a pipe. How about Bruno's drug store on Woodward and Madison. He had the same Truss athletic supporter body manniquin in the window forever. Use to shop at Moo-Cow Dairy on Putnam and Woodward. What was the name of the milk that came in the gold and white carton? I remember the many local fuel oil trucks delivering in the neighborhood. Apple Fuel, Spabro Oil,
Baerenklau, Dietz, Putnam oil, U.M.
and Granieri. I guess most houses went to gas.

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Joanne

5/14/2013 18:14:11

Crazy Mary lived across the street from me on Woodward Ave. ALWAYS wore a long winter coat, even in July! That drug store was "BRUERS" and I remember it was two steps up to get inside. He had HUGE apothecary jars filled with colored water and filled his own pills when he made up the prescriptions! The MOO COW was owned by John whom my friend and i referred to as "Mr. BIG STUFF" like the hit song. A man named Richie worked there and Wise Potato Chips were a nickel a bag! Fuel trucks STILL deliver oil to this day. And that SAME dinky laundromat is STILL across from the Moo Cow on the same side of the street.

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john from putnam

2/15/2015 18:34:58

I believe the milk from Moo Cow was Weissglass.

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Ron

12/31/2011 14:12:53

I loved ridgewood, born n rasied madison st.off fresh pond rd.went p.s.71,93 n grover cleveland.I'll never forget good n bad times.hung out madison park, farmers oval.loved the oasis theater.Live in country now,but never will i forget growing up in ridgewood queens.

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Jackie

2/1/2012 23:22:52

Ron , I wasa Glendale girlwhohung out atMadison Park ans theOval early 70's. Did you know Russell Rucci , Joni and Jackie Ryno, the O'Toole family. So many that Icant remember names of anymore. I too live far from that world now. Crazy times then , but good memories.

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Kathy

2/17/2012 10:14:00

I knew Joni and Jackie Ryno - went to same school as Jackie - GC - did you know Larry Traina or Glenn Winter or a girl named Meta who used to hang at the Oval?

Tom Schneider

5/2/2012 12:04:58

Hello.... Yes, I knew all of these folks....Use to live on Woodbine street next door to the Ryno's across the street from the O'tooles and next door to Tommy Henerhan. Around the corner form Russ and Debbie Rucci

LINDA

11/9/2012 12:14:23

JACKIE:

I hung out all over ridgewood, and i knew joni and jackie ryno..I remember when jackie died. I married jackie hamilton from the oval in the mid seventies......You reminded me of the crzy dayz....Jackie hamilton has since passed also. Hope your dreams have come true. Peace. Linda

John

9/15/2013 15:19:18

The O'Toole's that hung out at those parks are my Aunt and Uncles.

Tom Schneider

1/19/2014 11:52:32

Debbie

9/6/2013 20:02:26

I lived @ 6645 Fresh Pond Rd. Wore my overalls ALOT too!!! Hung out at Madison park and played handball. I live in the country now on the west coast but loved being out very late on the summer nights just running around the streets.I went p.s. 71 and jhs 93
Great memories.....

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catherine owens

9/5/2014 01:17:54

I lived at 6668 fresh pond road it was an older building for a few years when I was married in the late 70s. Your address is very close to where I must of lived. I lived close to the el train there and there was a carpet store corner at 68th avenue and fresh pond road I also lived later at 68th avenue late 70s early 80s. Lots of things come back to me

Dotty

3/19/2015 19:53:48

Me too..what great memories!

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Bobw927

1/19/2012 02:25:53

Does Anyone Remember a Candy Store on Onderdonk av & Grove street Owned by two old men that were Brothers now Long Gone & the store as well ???

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Anita B.

8/30/2012 23:34:00

My maiden name was Maier. The Schwalley family lived at 1916 Grove St.
I remember that store when I walked to St.Bridget's.Some of the nuns were very mean! Those men were a little strange. There was a Tom's Candy Store on Woodward bet. Grove and Menehan St. Tom had a weird mother. I lived at 1914 Grove St. Further down was Kronicks furniture store annex on Seneca and Grove and Lindeman's drugstore on the other side. We moved in 1961 to Linden bet. Fresh Pond and Traffic St. The better part of town my mom used too say. Upper Ridge wood!!!

I remember that candy store very well. Lived in Ridgewood from 1947 till 1971. Went to St. Brigid and then Grover Cleveland. Graduated in 1964. Lived at 1861 Menahan St. between Woodward and Onderdonk. Played stick ball in the streets every summer day. Basket ball at the "RED" school on Bleeker and Senca and Softball at P.S. 81. When I was older hung at at Mr. Steiber's Bar on Bleeker and Onderdonk and Had a Softball team called Club 13. GREAT place to grow up. We had the best German bakery's, the one on Woodward between Menahan and Grove. Love to hear more from anyone.

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Chuck L

8/27/2013 21:23:00

Dennis
I too played b-ball at the 600 Red school on Seneca and Bleecker. My friend lived in the first floor apt on the other side of the school yard wall. We played b-ball at Cleveland park well into the night as well as the park behind JHS 93. Softball and football on the tennis courts of Grover Cleveland HS. Cops used to coop or snooze back there - we would toss or hit a ball toward the cop car when we saw the seargent pull into the driveway. For that the cops didn't mind that we went into the school for water fountain. Lots of good memories

Louisa Masiello Korfman

9/8/2013 13:11:15

I lived at 1744 Menahan Street between Cypress and Seneca from 1953 to 1967. Three of my sisters graduated from Grover Cleveland as well as my two brothers-in-law!

Louisa Masiello Korfman

9/8/2013 13:04:20

I remember Essie's. I used to help her out in that store. Used to walk her dog for her, Buttons. Lived on Menahan between Cypress and Seneca

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Laura Dorsa

6/2/2014 16:54:50

I worked FOR Essie Sugar in her original store on Covert & Knickerbocker. ...those were the days ! Learned to make egg creams & hard pack Breyers ice cream by the quart... after she moved used to stop by to see how she was doing ! Wondered how long she lasted in the business and if she had millions stocked away ?

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Ken Scheu

11/27/2014 22:37:56

WOW! That's right Essie Sugar! Couldn't remember the last name! Grew up on Bleecker and Seneca

c owens

9/5/2014 01:14:02

I remember essys and John meyer deli on corner Grove st and sneeca avenue I lived on that street till 1974. There was a pharmacy across the street schneffs grove and Seneca avenue too .

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Ken Scheu

11/27/2014 22:32:33

WOW! Remember Essie's well! Lived on Bleecker and Seneca

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Anita

1/22/2012 12:29:53

Yes, I remember that candy store. It was up the block from Kronick's Furniture store. I used to go to a candy store on Woodward Ave. between Grove and menehan Streets. I think it was Tom's?? His mother worked there too! I also remeber Nardella's Fruit and vegetable store on Woodward and Dilbert's small grocery store. Then I moved to a 2 family house on Linden St. off Fresh Pond Road. My mom wanted a better apt.

There was a hobby store on Forest ave and Bleeker St in the 1960's anyone have any information on this ????

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John

2/12/2012 17:12:12

Went out at least 20 yrs ago. Now a hair salon. Great train setups

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Jim McKewen

12/31/2012 19:58:21

I lived on Menahan St between 60th Pl and Fresh Pond Rd. I graduated from PS 71 in 1959.! The hobby shop on Forest Ave & Bleecker St was Mrs. Reese's hobby shop and her husband owned a repair shop right next store and next to PS 71. I lived in Ridgewood fro 1955 until 1968 and then in Glendale until 1975. Thanks for the memories - those were great times!

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Marty Stahl

6/17/2013 07:40:25

It was owned by a friend's aunt. I don't remember her name. He was Ray Brabant & had an older sister Jeanne. They lived on Cornelia, about a quarter of a block north of Seneca. I did love that store!

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Dotty

3/19/2015 19:58:18

Wow I remember Jeannie Brabant😃

James S.

6/12/2014 20:56:05

I remember that store. We used to buy our AFX cars there ! I can't remember the name though. How bout nagangast on fresh pond next to Masbachs restaurant . They had the best hobby toys there

Wow, almost forgot about Mrs. Thomas, she only opened on fridays and every Catholic in the Ridgewood Glendale area was lined up for her deep fried fish and fries. Best french fries I ever tasted, still to this day.

I remember when the truck would pull up to deliver her fish, all the kids would line up to touch the ice blocks.

Ken Scheu

11/30/2014 20:54:51

Anybody remember the beer distributor ( we called it soda place) on Bleecker between Seneca and Onderdonk? Grew up three houses away at 1812. Owned by two brothers. Woke up many weekend mornings to brother Sandy's whistling. Unless it was coal being delivered to the Red School

I was born and raised in ridgewood. Lived on george and seneca. went to saint aloysius from kindergarden to third grade . That was back in 1969. I remember them building the running track across the street from the school on dekalb.. are class was one of the first to run on that track at recess back in 71. Good memories !

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robert williams

1/26/2012 06:25:55

There was a Ice Cream Parlor on Woodward ave between Grove st & Linden st. was gone by mid to late 1960's .

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Jim Miller

3/28/2012 22:38:13

Robert....The Ice Cream Parlor you mentioned on Woodward Av was called Gaefer's. Barque's funeral home was on the corner of Linden St. & Woodward Av. also...and Frank's chicken market was on Grove & Woodward across from the church....Good memories.

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robert williams

5/12/2012 08:29:07

Wow I almost forgot about the chicken store and I remember seeing the Flames in the window and the smell of them cooking Wow Thanks for that memory.

Marissa

2/14/2012 11:28:31

Does anyone remember the place that made thermometers on Summerfield St?

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robert williams

2/27/2012 06:40:33

I saw that Place once Bike riding over that way early 1970 I think but also hearing about it from Friends on CB Radio.

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robert williams

2/27/2012 06:44:14

Also CB Radio became a big thing in the early to Mid 70's in Ridgewood, Glendale, Maspeth, & Middle Village. And we Had a CB Patrol watch. Does anyone Remember That ?

Denis Cullinan

8/6/2012 19:07:30

I remember the thermometer shop. I used to park my car just nearby so my wife could catch the train (the "L") to work. I remember one of the engineers standing outside, wearing a white coat and actually SMOKING A CIGARETTE! Those were the days---over thirty years ago.

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Denis Cullinan

8/28/2012 17:04:17

Does anyone remember the miniature golf course at the corner of Forest Avenue and Metropolitan Avenue? I first saw it in the mid-1950's. There was an ice cream parlor on Greene Ave. just south of Forest Avenue too.

Joanne

5/14/2013 18:51:47

My mother worked at a thermometer place called MILLER & WEBBER on George Street for a few months in the early 70's and I know of a guy who lives on Cornelia Street and works there to this day!!!

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Kathy

2/29/2012 08:34:27

Does anyone remember Pop's candy store on Palmetto & Seneca? He made the best egg creams ever!

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joyce

3/16/2012 19:44:44

I very much remember Pops. I lived down the street under the el train on Palmetto. I remember my first chocolate soda there - delicious and only 15cents. A lady named Jesse worked there. Very nice and a hard worker. Also an old man who had a very bad limp and was unpleasant worked behind the counter. I believe Terry was the owner. When I was super young my mother would not allow me to cross Seneca Avenue so I had to walk up the trains stairs by Deutsch furniture and cross over the "M" train station waiting area and walked down the stairs on the other side to go to Pops. Memories. I'm turning 50 in a few days and my memories of Ridgewood are still fairly crisp in my head. The good old days when life was very simple or I was very ignorant - pick your choice

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susan richeson

2/17/2013 21:43:45

Hi,I also remember Pops candy store! I also lived down the block at 1710 Palmetto St.,from when I was born in 1954 to 1965 when we moved to Suffolk Co. Talk about a culture shock!! I missed hanging out with my friends,walking all over to Myrtle Ave. with my Mom. My Mom's great grandfather had owned the six family house. He was an immigrant from Germany. My Dad lived on St Nicholas ave.,next to St Brigid's.church.I went to P.S.81 till the 5th grade.My Mom still talks about Ridgewood!!! Misses it so much,after all these years.

CHARLIE

1/14/2014 17:55:30

I also lived on Palmetto Street, 1717. That was the greatest time of my life. We played football "under the el" where 3 pillars was a touchdown. This we did between Trolly cars and then buses. On the stree from morning until supper time

ray

6/18/2015 10:04:09

Did you know a Johnny Swift!, he was always chewing gum always. He lived on palmetto under the "el"!

Marty

6/17/2013 07:45:49

Pops! It was also the place to get papers and magazines. I don't recall ever going there and not finding what I wanted. I lived up the block from Starr Park, so it wasn't my first stop. But I could depend on it being my last one.

I too grew up in RIDGEWOOD. I went to p.s. 93 then on to Saint Joseph's downtown Brooklyn by train. All my friends went to Grover Cleveland. I played in Madison St. Park. Henry was the 'parkie'. I remember the sprinkler in the center of the park, playing handball and when I was 15 Bob Witteasked me out while we were hanging out there. I broke my front teeth at Farmers Oval sandbox when I was 7.I remember Tish McClane,The DeDominic twins, Frankie Melia,Kenny Flood,Joann Thorpey,Joe Heery, Sally and Millie Price, Kim Dalton and so any others that hung out at Wilkins Ice Cream parlor down towards the Oasis movie theatre.

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Jim McKewen

12/31/2012 20:11:54

I remember the Price twins. I lived on Menahan St between 60th Pl and Fresh Pond Rd. I graduated from PS 71 in 1959.! I went to Aviation HS but most of my friends went to Grover Cleveland. I spent a lot of time at Old First Church (youth group) and went to dances at Miraculous Medal, both on 60th Place. I still keep in touch with some of my PS 71 classmates who went to Grover Cleveland.

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Jim McKewen

12/31/2012 20:15:34

I remember the Price twins. I lived on Menahan St between 60th Pl and Fresh Pond Rd. I graduated from PS 71 in 1959.! I went to Aviation HS but most of my friends went to Grover Cleveland. I spent a lot of time at Old First Church (youth group) and went to dances at Miraculous Medal, both on 60th Place. I still keep in touch with some of my PS 71 classmates who went oon to Grover Cleveland.

Hi GeneAnn, I lived in the same building you did, I think you were on the fourth and I was on the fifth floor. You had a younger sister and a brother. I am older than you and I remember baby sitting Tish McClane when she was little. I really liked her Mom and her sister Maureen (the nurse). Your family was close with the Rebils who moved to the Hamptons I saw Margaret last year and she said her Mother was not doing to well. I also remember Henry the parkie and ice skating in the pool in the winter. When I got married I moved to the three rooms on the fouth floor and after I had my son I moved into the four room apt. (4G) across the hall and I think this is the apt your family lived in. I lived in this apt. since I was 7yrs. old. now 70yrs later I am stil here. Go down to the park in the morning. read my paper, chat with friends and neighbors and still love Ridgewood. So glad I recognized your name and hope your the right GeneAnn.

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Diane Walker Barbera

3/17/2012 16:46:20

I remember the essy's on Seneca and also the deli on Grove & Seneca. John Meyer owned it. He was a human calculator. He would list the items on the paperbag and with one swoop add it up. Everyone would go home and do the math because they could not believe it. I grew up on Grove bet Seneca & Cypress. Those were the days my friends. We were lucky to have lived there.

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MIKEY D

7/10/2012 21:45:56

HEY G STUMBLED UPON YOUR BLOG DONT KNOW IF U REMEMBER ME MIKE DESOLA WENT TO SCHOOL WITH GABRIEL BARATO THAT USE TO LIVE ON YOUR BLOCK HUNG OUT IN THE CAR BARNS WITH A GREAT BUNC H OF GUYS JIMMY ROGGIO TONY COOL JOHN VECCHIO VINNY FIORILLO SCRATCH OH WOW BRINGS BACKS SOME MEMORIES HOW ABOUT THE FAMOUS KOZY SHACK JOEY TURCHIANNO JOE RIZZI PLAYING B-BALL IN THE CAR BARNS WAS A GREAT TIME

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j

11/16/2012 20:52:11

wow mike you forget two other guys they tough you how to play basketball in car barns hint remember florida

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MIKEY D

11/19/2012 18:13:09

MY BAD I FORGOT TO MENTION TWO OF MY BEST FREINDS AND BROTHERS FROM THE CAR BARNS DENNIS DASILVA AND GEORGE O"CONNER BUT THERE BASKETBALL SKILLS WERE MUCH TO BE DESIRED IS THAT YOU DENNIS

MIKEY D

11/19/2012 18:24:00

I ALMOST FORGOT JOSE BARENO IF THAT IS YOU WERE THE HELL DID YOU GO I ASK EVERYBODY ABOUT YOU NO ONE KNOWS OR HEARD FROM YOU LET ME KNOW IF ITS YOU THERE WERE ONLY THE FOUR OF US THAT WENT TO FLA ME DENNIS JOSE AND PETE AND HAVE NOT HEARD FROM PETE IN OVER 30 YEARS

Hiya Mikey,
I remember you. Gabriel was such a nice "gentle giant." Will never forget how he squeezed into his VW bug ... ha! I also remember most of the other guys you named, though I was younger than that crew ... Scratch .. there's a name I haven't heard in awhile.

All the best,
GdeM

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Richard Ilardi

9/8/2013 07:30:18

3 names in this thread are no longer with us. Michael Marichia (Scratch), John Vecchio & George O'Connor.

peter i

12/11/2013 18:30:39

Ritchie, I went to school with them. Lived down the block from scratch ( Michael M. ) George was in my Saint A's class too.
When did they pass ??

Richard Ilatdi

12/14/2013 06:16:16

Peter, all 3 passed on many years ago. All 10+ years!

Anthony

11/13/2014 14:32:35

I grew up in Ridgewood, Myrtle and Forest. George OConnor passed in Nov 2005. He worked for Sanitation. He worked cleaning up at WTC and succumbed to lung cancer in 9 months.

Susan W

8/19/2012 03:41:38

Reading all the comments brought back some great memories. I grew up on Forest Ave, just a few blocks from PS 71 elementary school. I remember Merken's, that was one of my favorite places. My aunt would take me there sometimes and I loved the sandwiches and the hot fudge sundae's. I remember going to see all the Planet of the Apes movies at the Oasis movie theater. I also watched many movies at the Ridgewood theater and the Madison as well. I spent half my childhood going to Bohack supermarket which was around the corner from us to get one or two items for my mom. Does anyone remember Frank and Tino's grocery/Deli on Forest Ave? Also there was a candy store on Forest Ave that everyone nicknamed The Lassie Candy Store because the owners had a large collie dog who looked exactly like Lassie sitting at the door. It seemed there was a candy store on every block in those days. I remember the Hershey Candy store also on Forest Ave as well. There was a great little pizza place on Forest right where the El train entrance was. I also remember carrying home pizza from Joe's pizzeria. They had the best pizza I have ever tasted in my life. I recently heard they are no longer there. Does anyone remember shopping at the Woolworths on Myrtle Ave? The Carvels on Metropolitan Ave? The big clock on the corner of Metropolitan and Forest Ave? Anyone remember Ridgewood Savings Bank on the corner of Myrtle and Forest Ave. I remember my mom let me get a bank account there as a kid with a few dollars and I felt so grown up. Does anyone remember the Ridgewood library. I also remember going to Sams Candy store with my aunt on the corner of Putnam by the el Train and they had the old fashioned wooden phone booth with the door that closed. I'm really curious if anyone remembers the large Octogan Laundry on Grove St. It was a very large laundry facility with a huge parking lot and many trucks that used to pick up and deliver laundry.

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Jeanette Coppola Nichols

3/17/2013 19:50:01

Susan,did you know someone names Jeanette? I knew a Susan W who lived on Forest ave. she had a younger brother and her parents were friends with my parents n

Remember all those things Susan ... Joe's was the best ... lot's of great memories of my dad taking me and my brother there - for a pie and I would drink a Fresca and my brother would drink a Mountain Dew ... ha!

The Ridgewood Library brings back the best memories ... not a large library but my friend Jimmy Donovan and I would ride our bikes there, especially in the dog days of August. Will never forget the smell of it. My love for reading began there.

Thanks for sharing!

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Lori L

8/26/2012 21:29:27

I used to go to Knickerbocker Park with my Grandparents and loved waiting for the Rides that were on Trucks to come around - one was the Trip to the moon (I think) and the Whip

It appears that you have not kept up with your blog, but I was happy to find it on line. I just finished a conversation with my wife about the "pretzel man". Surely it can't be the same one I remember---- "fresha apretzels", from the sixties. We were discussing the amount of money that he must have made in a day--I remember paying 5 cents for a pretzel! I was born and raised at 1868 Hart Street between Onderdonk and Woodward. Attended St.Aloysius ( the original school) 1960 through 1967. Went off to Christ the King for HS. I can't believe you mentioned "Crazy George"! Obviously you are a bit younger than I, but did you know the Caseys, the Matzingers? My street name was Asmo, and there are some out there who still refer to me that way. I've long since left the neighborhood for greener pastures-- literally. I've been a farmer in Washington state for the last 30 years. My family is gone from the city but it's so easy to take that walk down memory lane. My kids know all the stories, all the games, and they think it's so cool that I grew up in New York. Thanks for the ride, Rob

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Bob Tursi

9/6/2013 16:08:22

Asmo.. that is a name I remember well. used to hand with you and Baldo too. long time ago memories. all good ones too.
Good to see your name posted here . brought back many memories.

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Peter Iacontino

12/11/2013 18:42:21

Hi Asmo, Nice to here a name from the old days.Say hello to Baldo.
Hope the farm is doing well. Live long & prosper. I remember listening to the CREAM tape I recorded at there concert the night before, & Baldo playing TRAINTIME on his harp. GOOD TIMES.

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Peter Iacontino

12/11/2013 18:42:44

Hi Asmo, Nice to here a name from the old days.Say hello to Baldo.
Hope the farm is doing well. Live long & prosper. I remember listening to the CREAM tape I recorded at there concert the night before, & Baldo playing TRAINTIME on his harp. GOOD TIMES.

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Peter I

12/11/2013 18:42:58

Hi Asmo, Nice to here a name from the old days.Say hello to Baldo.
Hope the farm is doing well. Live long & prosper. I remember listening to the CREAM tape I recorded at there concert the night before, & Baldo playing TRAINTIME on his harp. GOOD TIMES.

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Peter i

12/11/2013 18:43:12

Hi Asmo, Nice to here a name from the old days.Say hello to Baldo.
Hope the farm is doing well. Live long & prosper. I remember listening to the CREAM tape I recorded at there concert the night before, & Baldo playing TRAINTIME on his harp. GOOD TIMES.

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Peter i

12/11/2013 18:45:05

Hi Asmo, Nice to here a name from the old days.Say hello to Baldo.
Hope the farm is doing well. Live long & prosper. I remember listening to the CREAM tape I recorded at there concert the night before, & Baldo playing TRAINTIME on his harp. GOOD TIMES.

Hi Robert,
I do indeed keep up with all of my blogs. I don't comment much on my "Ridgewood" ones. They seem to have a life of their own. c",)

I'm a fiction writer. My website was created for my writing career. I wrote this blog 10 months before I published my first novel, _THE WATCHMAN OF EPHRAIM_. I wrote it to allow folks to know where I'm from. I did ask for fellow Ridgewoodites to leave comments - honestly not expecting many or perhaps any to do so. Instead, it has become one of my most read blogs ... literally thousands have read it and more continue to every day. I'm blown away and overjoyed that it has made people from "our" old neighborhood so happy.

To your comments ... it very well may be the same pretzel man. He stood on the corner of Stockholm St. and Seneca Avenue every school day, once the new St. A's opened across the street (1968-1976, at least, that's when I attended St. A's). He was a small, older chubby Italian man that wore a hat and pushed a white cart. Back in the late 60's and early 70's he sold his pretzels for 10-cents and 3 for a quarter.

My older brother Peter John started selling pretzels in 1972 and I did too in 1973. My brother walked a 6-mile route ending up in front of McCrory's on Myrtle Avenue. I sold for outside the main doors of Wyckoff Heights Hospital on Stockholm Street.

He sold between 200-500 pretzels a day and earned about $6-$15 per day. He used to purchase his pretzels from the same place my brother and I did - the Starr St. Pretzel factory. By the time I was buying pretzels from there in '73, they were selling them for 3-cents each. When I was 10 years old, I would but 100 for $3 and sell them for 10-cents, earning $10 ... $7 profit per day for a 10y/o in Ridgewood back then was pretty good scratch! haha ...

I know exactly where you lived. We all used to go to a candy store on Onderdonk between Stockholm and DeKalb Ave, just a block away from where you grew up. It was sort of a head shop - the guy who ran it also silk screened dungaree jackets for $10 a pop. That was the thing back then.

Yep, everyone from Ridgewood knew Crazy George. I used to run into him all the time in Bohack's on Seneca between Stockholm and DeKalb. If you said hi to him he'd take his bottom lip and put it over his nose. hahaha ... I guess that's how he earned his name.

Casey's and Matzinger's are vaguely familiar names.

Asmo, huh? Cool, classic Ridgewood nickname! I'm sure a bunch would remember you in the Facebook group "Ridgewoodites." I don't know if you have a FB account - if you do, just search and join "Ridgewoodites," I guarantee you will get the biggest kick out of all the photos posted from back in the day and people that you know and know you will be there.

A farmer in Washington? Now you're pulling my chain. haha ... Ridgewood wasn't noted for turning out to many farmers ... unless you count all the Italians growing tomatoes, mint, and figs in our little gardens.

I have four sons. I wanted to take them back to see the tenement I grew up in on Stockholm St. (across from the new St. A's), but they tore it and the factory next to it down. My cousin sent me a photo of the building that I framed. My sons look at it and say, "Daddy, it looks like you grew up in Europe." haha ...

hi Robert, I was born in ridgewood and my father owned the LaSala Funeral Home on central av. and cornelia st. I am amazed at all the memories and remember so much of what everyone is saying here. I am very interested to hear from anyone who remembers when a freight train was left unlocked behind the Ridgewood Lanes on irving and decateur. all the kids brought home HUGE chocolate blocks and we had chocolate for months. anyone recall the details of this ??? any more about crazy George??

Tony my father and your father were very good friends. I remember u as a little kid. Angelo Messana was always with them at my house.Reading your post your father would have kicked your butt lmao.How is your sister.Guess both your parents are gone like my parents. you don/t know me but think u remember name.

Joyce Polito

9/27/2012 23:11:52

I was born on Stockholm street,until I was 2 yrs old ,then my parents moved to good old grove st ..Had the best time growing up there.I do remember crazy George he always was yelling out to you want your halls washed..Went to Jr hs 162 wish that I could meet some people on here who would get in touch..I met about 6 from facebook..

Also there was a Hardware store owned by "George Saurer" on Woodward between Grove and Menahan and he lived accross the street from me on Grove. He got sick in the late 70's and passed away.
And there was another Hardware store "Platz" on Gates & Forest aves.

Reply

Joanne

5/14/2013 18:52:53

Platz iz STILL there and in the same condition. It is run by two Asian brothers in their early thirties.

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robert williams

11/2/2012 08:44:31

Hello all, I think we are all close to the same age I was born 1958 so Remember when we would have Thanksgiving Day and in NY Channel 11 would play "March of the Wooden Soldiers" Well I have a Link to watch it and Bring back those Memories of that time when we were kids, well here it is with some commercials. -

Thanksgiving has always been my favorite holiday, Robert, because of all the traditions like - the parade - March of the Wooden Soldiers - Bingo - Detroit Lions losing ... hehe ...

My brother Peter John (born in '59) and I both marched for years in the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade. Remember, there used to be TWO TV stations broadcasting the parade - but Macy's was always the biggest. Also, remember Jack Lord from Hawaii 5-0 hosting the Hawaiian parade. I used to love when the man would speak in Hawaiian, in his extraordinary Jack Lord voice "... hawana wana bingo ... that means, 'May your turkey be blessed with flavorful stuffing'" haha ...

Thanks for the link and the memories,

Aloha!

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Jeff Viola

11/21/2012 21:35:50

My name is Jeff Viola. I was born in Ridgewood (1967) and lived there (Woodward Ave bet Greene & Bleecker) until I moved to Maspeth in 1986. I am a proud graduate of St. Aloysius (class of 1981 - Sr. Alice Grillo, Ms. Koechel & Mrs. Maggio (still alive and kicking at 90 on Suydam St.).

I wouldn't trade my memories of growing up there for anything. Several of you have mentioned that harmless nut Crazy George. Remember how he used to ride his motorcycle like an maniac, drape his lower lip over his nose and sneak up behind you and yell, "Meatballs!!!" (scaring the bleep out of you)? Remember the Big Swing that used to come by on summer nights during the 70's? If you were lucky, the owner would swing it hard enough for it to touch the floor. Fireworks would dominate the neighborhood from Memorial Day until the 4th. We would wake up early on July 5th and search for the ones that didn't go off. Then we would scrape the powder out of them and make a huge genie.

July 5th ... so funny. We all did that, didn't we ... ha! Or crack a unblown firecracker in half and light the powder and watch it spark out.

Thanks for sharing Jeff.

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robert williams

11/24/2012 15:23:32

Found a website for all it's called Forgotten NY Link:
http://forgotten-ny.com/

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Elliott W

2/13/2015 08:24:50

https://secure3.convio.net/masnyc/site/Ecommerce?store_id=1221
or
http://www.mas.org/

03/29/15 - Palm Sunday in Ridgewood, Queens
11:00 AM - Join guide Joe Svehlak on Palm Sunday to visit several churches, grand and humble, serving diverse congregations, including Eastern Rite Orthodox churches where people from places like Egypt, India, and Romania worship. We'll also visit the award winning Mathews Flats buildings, and some of the recently landmark areas dotted with fine brick housing constructed over a century ago for the working class residents of the neighborhood. We'll walk land-marked Stockholm Street which is paved in yellow brick, as well as pay a brief visit to Linden Hill Cemetery that boasts diverse gravestone inscriptions and impressive views of the Manhattan skyline. Cost: $20 / $15 Members

Sorry that my first post is an ad but thought that some of you might want to go back to the old neighborhood.

Also Chuck L. How are you doing? How are Fred, Joe B and John doing? Elliott Wilshaw (EWOO) here who lived on Woodward (between Harmon & Himrod) across from Whooley Brothers Liquor Store and next to Bender Knitting Mills, Chuck please write to me at itsmeew@aol.com

What was Eagles Nest Motto, the sign that was hanging above the bar? Something like" this is the place to eat and drink it is better here than across the street (Linden Hill Cemetery was across the street) Also Russ made killer sandwiches besides burgers..

What about Two Kioodles Bar on Onderdonk with a free lunch. Lots of happy mailmen hung out there. They also served beer in cardboard container to go. Also the wonderful Leberkäse at Sammets German Restaurant on Onderdonk Ave.

A neat video on the Art Murals of Ridgewood now part of the Bushwick Collective

Am I the only one that hates how the hipsters now call Brooklyn Ridgewood, Bushwick?

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ray

6/18/2015 10:19:22

Come in here and take a seat. Its better here. Then across the street! If you had a old book of matches from the bar (common in those days great for advertising) you would find the saying inside the match cover.. Now that would make some collectors item

Chuck L

11/25/2012 10:08:34

Great discussions from all
Liven on Harman St between Cypress and Seneca from 1951 to 1971 in a railroad flat - but so did everyone! Always playing outside: football, stickball, half-ball, and skelzy with the wax melted inside for weight. Went to PS81 then to JHS 93 - either walked to JHS, the B38 bus on the corner (with the knitting mill and the pigeon coop on the roof); then run up the Myrtle Av el steps when you heard the buzzer that the train was coming. 'Tried' to sell subscriptions to and delivered 'the Press' by bike or grocery cart; my brother and I had to grocery shop in Bohacks on Dekalb across from car barns on Seneca.
Candy store on the corner would make the best egg-cream and you hung out there. Grew up on the Queens side of Harman, right over Cypress was Brooklyn - Until Ridgewood got its own post office and zip code, the auto insurance brokers would insist we lived in Brooklyn (higher rates) because thats where the Post office was - Wyckoff Ave.
Speaking of Wyckoff Ave - waiting for the first edition of the Daily News under the El; the Hamburg savings bank where I deposited min wages from summer jobs. It seems we walked all over Ridgewood, shopping on Myrtle Ave, going to the Madison or Ridgewood movies, of venturing out to the Oasis on FPR.
Anyone remember sneaking into the long closed Majestic theater on Seneca and Greene - before it was turned into funeral home?
Marching on Brooklyn-Queens day (early June) with your church or Boys Scouts - it was probably referred to by another name.
Later moved to upper Ridgewood - 70th and FPR down from Strauss Auto (where they never had the right part - 'this will do') in one of the ground floor walkin with a huge metal gate - good for leaving the doors open and getting breezes - way before A/C. Later moved to Madison and FPR, backyard facing the bus depot. And climbing the clothes pole in backyard that every apartment building had to repair the clothesline.
Played in the schoolyards of PS81, the '600 school' on Seneca, the park next to Cleveland HS, and softball and football on the tennis courts behind Cleveland HS 0 - and in the summer swimming in the pool. Also, taking the bus to the YMCA on Jamaica Ave for basketball and swimming, as well as swimming in Cypress pool also on Jamaica Ave.
We shopped in grocery store where they kept the tab on a sheet of white wax paper, added up the items on the grocery bag, and paid at the end of the week - or next week.
Thanks for this trip...........

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robert w

3/23/2013 18:26:55

Hi Chuck, Did you know a girl named Helga ? she lived on Harman btwn Onderdonk & Woodward .

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Chuck l

3/30/2013 10:34:28

Honestly couldn't say for sure - but Helga is a great Ridgewood name

Dennis Barvels

5/3/2013 08:40:19

Hey Chuck you brought back a lot of memories. Lived in Ridgewaood 1947 till 1971. Played stickball in the street, basketball at the 600 "RED" school on Seneca and Bleeker, Softball at P.S. 81 and Cleveland Park. Was a Boy Scout Troop 270 at P.S. 81. Marched every year in the Memorial Day Parade from Glendale to Ridgewood. Played YMCA baseball at farmers oval during the week and on Saturdays across from the "Y" on Jamica avenue at the bottom of Snake Hill. When I was a Senior at GCHS went to a dance at the Gym and saw Randy and the Rainbows, they sang OH DENISE". Great Memories.

Chuck ... "This will do ..." <-- made me laugh out loud and its 3 AM here. Haha ... I'm a little younger than you (Ridgewood '63 - '78) but same memories ... especially the sheet of white wax paper and adding up the groceries on the side of the bag.

Thanks for sharing ... great stuff!

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Barbara K.

8/23/2014 14:29:30

I, too, grew up on Harman St..but on the other side of Cypress. So I was Brooklyn. Had to go to Bushwick High instead..but my mother put me in Mercy Juniorate..to become a nun or get even with the politicians instead. Remember the lady on your street who was pregnant for 2 years?

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Chuck L

8/31/2014 14:06:50

Hi Barbara- Can't say I remember the 2 year pregnancy; although around the corner on Seneca and Greene Ave lived a woman with husband with 18 kids - in a four room Ridgewood flat.
I hung out with a bunch of guys and girls from your block and my block of Harman- that would have been around '60 to '65 time frame.
Used to play hide and seek, capture the flag, johnny on the pony, in front of the garages on the corner. Used to belong to Boy Scout troop in St Andrews church. Write back!

Chuck L

8/31/2014 14:07:17

Hi Barbara- Can't say I remember the 2 year pregnancy; although around the corner on Seneca and Greene Ave lived a woman with husband with 18 kids - in a four room Ridgewood flat.
I hung out with a bunch of guys and girls from your block and my block of Harman- that would have been around '60 to '65 time frame.
Used to play hide and seek, capture the flag, johnny on the pony, in front of the garages on the corner. Used to belong to Boy Scout troop in St Andrews church. Write back!

Jeff Kremberg

11/26/2012 15:38:13

Anybody remember Vasa Pharmacy on Fresh Pond Road at the corner of Linden St? My father owned that store from the early 1950's to 1975 when he retired. My brothers and I worked with him on Saturdays. We used to bring in Chinese food from the Fresh Pond Inn across the street.

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Mikey

12/7/2012 08:39:40

Anyone remember the Kimble farm on Harman St. between seneca and cypress? Horse sh*t John ran the vegetable cart and hay rides from the stables there. Billys candy store on cypress ave. The nickle cherry waters and 2 for a penny candies?

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Chuck L

12/7/2012 11:36:26

Remember it very well. He used to give rides on the cart when it wasn't used for vegetables. Billy's daughter used to babysit me and my brother

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Ken

12/8/2012 09:19:18

And what about the WWI monument in the triangle at Cypress and Myrtle? Memorial day parades on Myrtle used to finish up there. Has the names of Ridgewood vets who died in the war. I remember my grandmother's brother is listed, Simendinger. Ironic that he was born in Germany. Speaking of "born in Germany" does anyone remember the German ladies of Ridgewood scrubbing the sidewalks in front of their houses? You could always tell the German houses because the sidewalk would be lighter. I remember milk deliveries (in bottles), Cott or Hoffman soda deliveries and Seltzer in the spray containers. When we were kids we would swipe them and play 3 Stooges squirting each other. It seemed that there were alot of pigeon coops on roofs also. So many memories, I'm glad I found this blog. Thanks everyone.

I remember that memorial Ken ... very cool your great-uncle's name on it. You're so right about the German stoops and sidewalks ... they hated us Italians (the old ones did) but they did keep their homes and the street immaculate. I think my mom learned to "bleach the stoop" from them.

Hoffman and Cott soda ... in those big bottles.

Used to watch the pigeons fly on lazy days ... the world seemed slower then.

Ridgewood NY 11385 Alumni is a Facebook page I Created for Memories of Ridgewood, All are Welcome to check out photos and stories and Links and possibly make connections to someone you grew up with. Stop by and you can post and ask Questions. I tried posting this before maybe it will work this time. Thanks and Happy Holidays to All and Families.

http://www.facebook.com/Bobw92758

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Lori

12/27/2012 21:48:17

I grew up in Ridgewood from the time I was born in 1958 until I was 8 in 1966. We lived on Stockholm & Cypress in a 2 family home with my parents, grandparents and aunt. I went to St. Aloysius and still remember the blue uniforms. My other memories of school were the day JFK was shot (we were sent home); getting my mouth washed out with lye soap for sticking my tongue out at my friend Donna (the nun thought I was sticking it out at her); and walking past the room where the older kids practiced for band and played the glockenspeil. Oh, how I wanted to play one day!

We played on the stoops. There was a candy store around the block that had pretzel sticks on the counters, stools that spun, egg creams, and candy dots on paper that you bought by the foot.

We used to play in the big, empty boxes at the factory up by the church. I remember the workers inside cutting through layers of fabric with special machinery.

It was a good place to be a kid. We were safe and surrounded by friends and family. I miss those days. My family moved us to Long Island so we could live in the suburbs and have a yard and good public schools. I sometimes wish we'd never left.

Happy Holidays!

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Lori

12/27/2012 21:50:33

BTW - my family was Calabrese as were almost all of our Italian neighbors & friends. My grandparents and mother immigrated and their paesan all settled close by.

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Rick Gross

1/16/2013 17:18:45

Hi Lori was born in 58 and went to st. A's as well. we were probably in the same class. I still have pictures of me dressed as a priest and a girl dressed as a nun leading the kindergarten class into graduation!! I also remember attending a wake in the convent (my first ever). Do you think you were part of that group?? -rick

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Melissa B

5/20/2015 18:28:19

Hello Lori. My name is Melissa. I know this post is from quite some time ago but I am hoping someone will reply. I recently found a diary in a house that my dad was fixing up and I am determined to find who it belonged to and return it to them. Her name was Christine Pestrak. She was living in Ridgewood, NY in the year 1975 and she was also born in 1958. I am hoping you know her and could contact her or help me contact her. I have a few leads however, I haven't found her yet. If you have any information at all please let me know. Talk soon.

Melissa B.

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Darlene (nee) Bamberger

1/25/2013 19:27:50

Thanks for this blog, Gerard! I found it googling trying to find the street the Eagles Nest was on. But instead I took a great stroll down memory lane.

You're welcome, Darlene. I'm actually a writer. I posted this blog before my first book was published (in 2011). I only leave it up for my fellow Ridgewoodites. c",)

But ... if anyone wants to read a good thriller (written by someone from Ridgewood, with the lead character from Ridgewood) and help support this site, check out my CRIS DE NIRO novels, here on Amazon: http://bit.ly/GdeMonAmazon

Enjoy,
GdeM

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Darlene

1/29/2013 11:02:55

Great trailer for your books! Wishing you much success!

Mikey

1/25/2013 20:24:32

DeKalb Ave and Underdunk Ave. Bonus round, the cook at the Nest was Russel Waterhouse (russ). He lived in the area too (Harmon St I think).

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Darlene

1/29/2013 10:56:46

Thanks Mikey! Best burgers in the world.

kathy

5/31/2014 03:58:13

my grandfather was russel waterhouse who made those delicious burgers at eagles nest yes he lived with us at 1729 harmon street he was the best when me and my friends walked home from grover Cleveland park we would stick our heads in and if he wasn't busy he would invite us in for those little coke bottles and pickle chips the best . he was an amazing man also known as poppy to those who were close to him , I miss him so

Thanks Ronald. In _RISE TO THE CALL (Cris De Niro, Book 3), De Niro goes home ... to Ridgewood. The story is about him helping a childhood friend to find his son who went missing in Iran.

I think anyone from Ridgewood would get a kick out of the story.

B/t/w ... To show my age ... we used to have what they called "Breaks" in the back of Eagle's Nest (best burgers, even better when you washed them down with a pitcher). Breaks were get-togethers organized by CBers. My handle was "Mako." haha ...

We were so poor, my dad couldn't afford to buy me a "base station" - so he came home one day with a CB meant for a car that looked like it was stolen. The mic was broken so I could hardly talk to my friend John who lived on Stanhope and Fairview (I lived in a tenement on Stockholm and Seneca. I flew a big whip antenna out the 3rd floor window. lol ... Breaker breaker ... c",)

"OLMM" was the gold inscription embroided on our royal blue knitted school ties. These ties were worn with white shirts and blue slacks. The uniform of “ur Lady of Miraculous Medal” elementary school. I don't remember the tall tale behind the medal itself, but the school was a large, white brick edifice on the southeast corner of a four square block campus that included the church on the southwest corner, the convent on the northwest corner (with the rectory situated between the church and the convent), and the schoolyard in the southeast corner.

The school was about five blocks from my house. My father took me there on my first day of kindergarten; he left me there in a mob of parents and children. Many of the children were crying and clinging to their mothers because they didn't want to go into the school. From that day on, I walked to school by myself. Leaving Himrod Street, I would turn right and walk down Metropolitan Ave, then cross Forest Avenue (a busy intersection on a bus route that went to Myrtle Avenue, our big shopping area). I would usually cut through the lot next to the bank on Forest and Metropolitan Avenues and go up 61st Street to pick up Vinnie Marchione, my first close friend. He was a short kid with a sharp edged sense of humor and two affectionate life loving parents. He lived across the street from Pat De Maria, a kid our age who went to P.S. 71 and who spent much of his youth glancing at his reflection in store or car windows to comb his thick dark hair into a wave, often boasting of his prowess in sports and girl chasing. I disliked him for a few years. After a while, playing on a few baseball and basketball teams together, we became fast friends, life long friends. Up 61st street, past P.S. 71 (where the Protestants or "fallen away" Catholics went to school), I turned left on Bleeker Street, and the Church would be one block, straight ahead. There was a candy store on the corner where I would meet friends and have an egg cream or a malted milk after Mass on Sunday. I walked to the right of the church and down the hill, turned left at the bottom of the hill and there was the school entrance. Students assembled in the school yard before going into the building.

The school yard was usually chaotic until the nuns showed up. When they arrived and clicked their walnut clickers, students fell into formation, and marched, military style, into the building. The bottom floor of the school was the auditorium where assemblies, school plays, confraternity dances and gym classes were held. On the other side of the ground floor from the auditorium was the boys' lunchroom. The boys' and girls' restrooms were on opposite sides of the lunchroom. The lunchroom was where my boy scout troop met. I was a tenderfoot for two years. I joined mainly to play stick ball and to check out the girls in my class who were girl scouts June Reitman, Barbara Koerber, and the voluptuous Barbara Haley (the stuff wet dreams were made of) whose Girl Scout troop met at the same time in the auditorium. I lost interest in the Boy Scouts after encountering a couple of Scout "leaders" who thought boot camp tactics and close order drills were more important than games, arts, and crafts. I several times had to lean my knuckles against a a wire fence while one of the troop commanders, some guy between twenty and twenty five, would kick my feet back putting extra pressure on my knuckles; if I would wince or shuffle, they would whip my legs with their braided plastic whistle holders. There was an exit up the ramp from the lunchroom out to the schoolyard, where students would mill around after lunch and flip cards, get in fights, play king, tease or flirt with the girls.

The building had three floors of classrooms above ground level: kindergarten through second grade had the first floor; third, fourth, and fifth had the second; sixth, seventh, and eighth grade had the third floor. Marching into the building, I remember the odor of caustic floor cleaners. "Hall monitors" with white bandoleers and badges were located at every level, other students really, controlling the traffic flow up and down, in and out of, the building. I got reported one day by my classmate, the officious Martha Obermeyerer, a German war refugee, for calling her a "Nazi bitch" when she would not let me go upstairs. All the floors were cement, the ceilings were high, and the staircases were enclosed in wired glass with steel bannisters. It was a cold, forbidding place, resembling a prison or hospital. My first day in school I was a kindergartner. The second day I was placed in first grade because I could spell my name an unimpeachable form of educational testing and genius detection! I don't know what purpose advancing me served, except to get me out of OLMM a year earlier. On the other hand, that extra year might have served me better in high school and coll

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Bill Shaw

2/11/2013 14:29:54

Ridgewood in the 40's and 50's, cont'd:
Fifty to fifty five students huddled in each class, a phenomenon that encouraged control tactics and rote teaching. Sister: "Who created us?" Billy: "God created us." Sister: "Who is God?" Billy: "God is the Supreme Bean?" Sister: "Why did God create us?" Billy: "God created us to love him and serve him in this world and the next." The Baltimore Catechism had sticking power. The strategy, of course, was to blast dogma into virgin brains before we even knew what "Supreme" and "Being" meant! Intellectual and spiritual conviction could be worked out later. First lay the cement foundation. If I did not know the answer I would have to write it on the board fifty times, or write it in my notebooks one hundred times to be turned in the next day. If classroom performance flagged, the nuns would send me home with a note, urging my parents on to greater efforts. That usually meant a spanking and a stern warning against such future misconduct.But the nuns had other punishments. The one I hated was being kept after school.

And I was frequently kept after school. It got so, during one time period that I was kept after school almost every day; in frustration, I would sneak out every chance I got, and that would cause me to be kept in the next day. Usually, I had to sit there and do some mindless repetitive writing task, or, worse, do nothing, while the nun would work with the brownnosing girls who used to stay after school to help "Sister" clean the boards, clap out the erasers, sharpen pencils, make cutouts from colored paper, arrange bulletin boards, decorate "Mary" statues with crepe paper. All swishing around and giggling. I was the silent criminal in their midst. What crap! In truth, though, I liked a couple of these girls Marguerite Gulotta and Helen Heim, both from Palmetto Street. They were nun flunkies, but they were friendly and generous to everybody. Twenty years later I dated Helen. She would laugh about how much I "acted up" when I was in school, but I hardly remembered stuff I had done. She was a truly sweet person. She died of a brain hemorrhage about fifteen years ago.

The nuns fussed and gushed shamelessly over these girls. And George Sohn. George was a short, white haired, intelligent boy who had an effeminate voice and mannerisms. George was the only boy in the class who could write properly on the chalk board within the three line parallel frames "Sister" drew across the board with a chalk holding device designed to guide naturally lawless hands. His lower case letters were perfectly shaped: they very precisely touched the bottom and second line; his upper case letter perfectly touched the top line, while his "l's" and "t's" were gracefully suspended midway between the second and third lines of the tracks. George would usually join "Sister" and the girls in their board cleaning, eraser clapping chores. Also George professed early that he wanted to be a priest. So naturally the nuns gushed over him as well. The other guys in the class didn't like George and teased and "fag baited" him mercilessly. I remember when I joined a rout of hecklers who chased him to his bus stop down the block, on Fresh Pond Road. We pushed and taunted him till he got on the bus. He was in tears but struck back at us with girl type punches and kicking. That only incited us more. I look back sadly on that event now and wish I had known better. As we got older, we became friends. He actually did go into the seminary, but I don't know whether he finally became a priest.

We treated Rose Anne Traynor even more vilely. Rose Anne was an enormous and homely child. Until the later grades, she was taller than any boy in the class. And fat, very fat. She had an thatch of long, wild red hair, and a huge, globular face, ruddy and sprinkled with splotches, with sad, nervous sky blue eyes. She was very shy and awkward. She was a very weak student and hardly ever spoke up in class; and when she did, kids laughed and snickered. Her clothes always looked shabby and smelled. She was a perfect target, the almost daily butt of our jokes. She became our symbol of everything that was grotesque and loathsome, and that served to justify our ill treatment of her. We would push one another into her in the hallways, then act out mock disgust like we had just touched a leper. We would call her a "fat slob," a "cow," or "elephant" to her face and gibe at her behind her back. We would invoke her name to put one another down by saying how, say, Vinnie (or Babe, or somebody else) secretly lusted for her or was seen making out with her at the movies. One day I think we were in the sixth grade she was sent to the Sister Superior's office; and while she was down there, her mother, trembling and desolate, came into our class and rebuked us; then, weeping, she pleaded with us to stop torturing her daughter. I was, like others, stunned by this, never imagining this is what we had been doing, or that Rose Anne ev

Reply

Bill Shaw

2/11/2013 14:25:44

Ridgewood in the 40's and 50's, cont'd:
Fifty to fifty five students huddled in each class, a phenomenon that encouraged control tactics and rote teaching. Sister: "Who created us?" Billy: "God created us." Sister: "Who is God?" Billy: "God is the Supreme Bean?" Sister: "Why did God create us?" Billy: "God created us to love him and serve him in this world and the next." The Baltimore Catechism had sticking power. The strategy, of course, was to blast dogma into virgin brains before we even knew what "Supreme" and "Being" meant! Intellectual and spiritual conviction could be worked out later. First lay the cement foundation. If I did not know the answer I would have to write it on the board fifty times, or write it in my notebooks one hundred times to be turned in the next day. If classroom performance flagged, the nuns would send me home with a note, urging my parents on to greater efforts. That usually meant a spanking and a stern warning against such future misconduct.But the nuns had other punishments. The one I hated was being kept after school.

And I was frequently kept after school. It got so, during one time period that I was kept after school almost every day; in frustration, I would sneak out every chance I got, and that would cause me to be kept in the next day. Usually, I had to sit there and do some mindless repetitive writing task, or, worse, do nothing, while the nun would work with the brownnosing girls who used to stay after school to help "Sister" clean the boards, clap out the erasers, sharpen pencils, make cutouts from colored paper, arrange bulletin boards, decorate "Mary" statues with crepe paper. All swishing around and giggling. I was the silent criminal in their midst. What crap! In truth, though, I liked a couple of these girls Marguerite Gulotta and Helen Heim, both from Palmetto Street. They were nun flunkies, but they were friendly and generous to everybody. Twenty years later I dated Helen. She would laugh about how much I "acted up" when I was in school, but I hardly remembered stuff I had done. She was a truly sweet person. She died of a brain hemorrhage about fifteen years ago.

The nuns fussed and gushed shamelessly over these girls. And George Sohn. George was a short, white haired, intelligent boy who had an effeminate voice and mannerisms. George was the only boy in the class who could write properly on the chalk board within the three line parallel frames "Sister" drew across the board with a chalk holding device designed to guide naturally lawless hands. His lower case letters were perfectly shaped: they very precisely touched the bottom and second line; his upper case letter perfectly touched the top line, while his "l's" and "t's" were gracefully suspended midway between the second and third lines of the tracks. George would usually join "Sister" and the girls in their board cleaning, eraser clapping chores. Also George professed early that he wanted to be a priest. So naturally the nuns gushed over him as well. The other guys in the class didn't like George and teased and "fag baited" him mercilessly. I remember when I joined a rout of hecklers who chased him to his bus stop down the block, on Fresh Pond Road. We pushed and taunted him till he got on the bus. He was in tears but struck back at us with girl type punches and kicking. That only incited us more. I look back sadly on that event now and wish I had known better. As we got older, we became friends. He actually did go into the seminary, but I don't know whether he finally became a priest.

We treated Rose Anne Traynor even more vilely. Rose Anne was an enormous and homely child. Until the later grades, she was taller than any boy in the class. And fat, very fat. She had an thatch of long, wild red hair, and a huge, globular face, ruddy and sprinkled with splotches, with sad, nervous sky blue eyes. She was very shy and awkward. She was a very weak student and hardly ever spoke up in class; and when she did, kids laughed and snickered. Her clothes always looked shabby and smelled. She was a perfect target, the almost daily butt of our jokes. She became our symbol of everything that was grotesque and loathsome, and that served to justify our ill treatment of her. We would push one another into her in the hallways, then act out mock disgust like we had just touched a leper. We would call her a "fat slob," a "cow," or "elephant" to her face and gibe at her behind her back. We would invoke her name to put one another down by saying how, say, Vinnie (or Babe, or somebody else) secretly lusted for her or was seen making out with her at the movies. One day I think we were in the sixth grade she was sent to the Sister Superior's office; and while she was down there, her mother, trembling and desolate, came into our class and rebuked us; then, weeping, she pleaded with us to stop torturing her daughter. I was, like others, stunned by this, never imagining this is what we had been doing, or that Rose Anne ev

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Bill Shaw

2/11/2013 14:25:51

Ridgewood in the 40's and 50's, cont'd:
Fifty to fifty five students huddled in each class, a phenomenon that encouraged control tactics and rote teaching. Sister: "Who created us?" Billy: "God created us." Sister: "Who is God?" Billy: "God is the Supreme Bean?" Sister: "Why did God create us?" Billy: "God created us to love him and serve him in this world and the next." The Baltimore Catechism had sticking power. The strategy, of course, was to blast dogma into virgin brains before we even knew what "Supreme" and "Being" meant! Intellectual and spiritual conviction could be worked out later. First lay the cement foundation. If I did not know the answer I would have to write it on the board fifty times, or write it in my notebooks one hundred times to be turned in the next day. If classroom performance flagged, the nuns would send me home with a note, urging my parents on to greater efforts. That usually meant a spanking and a stern warning against such future misconduct.But the nuns had other punishments. The one I hated was being kept after school.

And I was frequently kept after school. It got so, during one time period that I was kept after school almost every day; in frustration, I would sneak out every chance I got, and that would cause me to be kept in the next day. Usually, I had to sit there and do some mindless repetitive writing task, or, worse, do nothing, while the nun would work with the brownnosing girls who used to stay after school to help "Sister" clean the boards, clap out the erasers, sharpen pencils, make cutouts from colored paper, arrange bulletin boards, decorate "Mary" statues with crepe paper. All swishing around and giggling. I was the silent criminal in their midst. What crap! In truth, though, I liked a couple of these girls Marguerite Gulotta and Helen Heim, both from Palmetto Street. They were nun flunkies, but they were friendly and generous to everybody. Twenty years later I dated Helen. She would laugh about how much I "acted up" when I was in school, but I hardly remembered stuff I had done. She was a truly sweet person. She died of a brain hemorrhage about fifteen years ago.

The nuns fussed and gushed shamelessly over these girls. And George Sohn. George was a short, white haired, intelligent boy who had an effeminate voice and mannerisms. George was the only boy in the class who could write properly on the chalk board within the three line parallel frames "Sister" drew across the board with a chalk holding device designed to guide naturally lawless hands. His lower case letters were perfectly shaped: they very precisely touched the bottom and second line; his upper case letter perfectly touched the top line, while his "l's" and "t's" were gracefully suspended midway between the second and third lines of the tracks. George would usually join "Sister" and the girls in their board cleaning, eraser clapping chores. Also George professed early that he wanted to be a priest. So naturally the nuns gushed over him as well. The other guys in the class didn't like George and teased and "fag baited" him mercilessly. I remember when I joined a rout of hecklers who chased him to his bus stop down the block, on Fresh Pond Road. We pushed and taunted him till he got on the bus. He was in tears but struck back at us with girl type punches and kicking. That only incited us more. I look back sadly on that event now and wish I had known better. As we got older, we became friends. He actually did go into the seminary, but I don't know whether he finally became a priest.

We treated Rose Anne Traynor even more vilely. Rose Anne was an enormous and homely child. Until the later grades, she was taller than any boy in the class. And fat, very fat. She had an thatch of long, wild red hair, and a huge, globular face, ruddy and sprinkled with splotches, with sad, nervous sky blue eyes. She was very shy and awkward. She was a very weak student and hardly ever spoke up in class; and when she did, kids laughed and snickered. Her clothes always looked shabby and smelled. She was a perfect target, the almost daily butt of our jokes. She became our symbol of everything that was grotesque and loathsome, and that served to justify our ill treatment of her. We would push one another into her in the hallways, then act out mock disgust like we had just touched a leper. We would call her a "fat slob," a "cow," or "elephant" to her face and gibe at her behind her back. We would invoke her name to put one another down by saying how, say, Vinnie (or Babe, or somebody else) secretly lusted for her or was seen making out with her at the movies. One day I think we were in the sixth grade she was sent to the Sister Superior's office; and while she was down there, her mother, trembling and desolate, came into our class and rebuked us; then, weeping, she pleaded with us to stop torturing her daughter. I was, like others, stunned by this, never imagining this is what we had been doing, or that Rose Anne ev

Ridgewood in the 40's and 50's, cont'd:
Fifty to fifty five students huddled in each class, a phenomenon that encouraged control tactics and rote teaching. Sister: "Who created us?" Billy: "God created us." Sister: "Who is God?" Billy: "God is the Supreme Bean?" Sister: "Why did God create us?" Billy: "God created us to love him and serve him in this world and the next." The Baltimore Catechism had sticking power. The strategy, of course, was to blast dogma into virgin brains before we even knew what "Supreme" and "Being" meant! Intellectual and spiritual conviction could be worked out later. First lay the cement foundation. If I did not know the answer I would have to write it on the board fifty times, or write it in my notebooks one hundred times to be turned in the next day. If classroom performance flagged, the nuns would send me home with a note, urging my parents on to greater efforts. That usually meant a spanking and a stern warning against such future misconduct.But the nuns had other punishments. The one I hated was being kept after school.

And I was frequently kept after school. It got so, during one time period that I was kept after school almost every day; in frustration, I would sneak out every chance I got, and that would cause me to be kept in the next day. Usually, I had to sit there and do some mindless repetitive writing task, or, worse, do nothing, while the nun would work with the brownnosing girls who used to stay after school to help "Sister" clean the boards, clap out the erasers, sharpen pencils, make cutouts from colored paper, arrange bulletin boards, decorate "Mary" statues with crepe paper. All swishing around and giggling. I was the silent criminal in their midst. What crap! In truth, though, I liked a couple of these girls Marguerite Gulotta and Helen Heim, both from Palmetto Street. They were nun flunkies, but they were friendly and generous to everybody. Twenty years later I dated Helen. She would laugh about how much I "acted up" when I was in school, but I hardly remembered stuff I had done. She was a truly sweet person. She died of a brain hemorrhage about fifteen years ago.

The nuns fussed and gushed shamelessly over these girls. And George Sohn. George was a short, white haired, intelligent boy who had an effeminate voice and mannerisms. George was the only boy in the class who could write properly on the chalk board within the three line parallel frames "Sister" drew across the board with a chalk holding device designed to guide naturally lawless hands. His lower case letters were perfectly shaped: they very precisely touched the bottom and second line; his upper case letter perfectly touched the top line, while his "l's" and "t's" were gracefully suspended midway between the second and third lines of the tracks. George would usually join "Sister" and the girls in their board cleaning, eraser clapping chores. Also George professed early that he wanted to be a priest. So naturally the nuns gushed over him as well. The other guys in the class didn't like George and teased and "fag baited" him mercilessly. I remember when I joined a rout of hecklers who chased him to his bus stop down the block, on Fresh Pond Road. We pushed and taunted him till he got on the bus. He was in tears but struck back at us with girl type punches and kicking. That only incited us more. I look back sadly on that event now and wish I had known better. As we got older, we became friends. He actually did go into the seminary, but I don't know whether he finally became a priest.

We treated Rose Anne Traynor even more vilely. Rose Anne was an enormous and homely child. Until the later grades, she was taller than any boy in the class. And fat, very fat. She had an thatch of long, wild red hair, and a huge, globular face, ruddy and sprinkled with splotches, with sad, nervous sky blue eyes. She was very shy and awkward. She was a very weak student and hardly ever spoke up in class; and when she did, kids laughed and snickered. Her clothes always looked shabby and smelled. She was a perfect target, the almost daily butt of our jokes. She became our symbol of everything that was grotesque and loathsome, and that served to justify our ill treatment of her. We would push one another into her in the hallways, then act out mock disgust like we had just touched a leper. We would call her a "fat slob," a "cow," or "elephant" to her face and gibe at her behind her back. We would invoke her name to put one another down by saying how, say, Vinnie (or Babe, or somebody else) secretly lusted for her or was seen making out with her at the movies. One day I think we were in the sixth grade she was sent to the Sister Superior's office; and while she was down there, her mother, trembling and desolate, came into our class and rebuked us; then, weeping, she pleaded with us to stop torturing her daughter. I was, like others, stunned by this, never imagining this is what we had been doing, or that Rose Anne ev

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Bill Shaw

2/11/2013 15:37:23

One day, I think we were in the sixth grade she was sent to the Sister Superior's office; and while she was down there, her mother, trembling and desolate, came into our class and rebuked us; then, weeping, she pleaded with us to stop torturing her daughter. I was, like others, stunned by this, never imagining this is what we had been doing, or that Rose Anne even had feelings like the rest of us. Though the taunting subsided somewhat after that, I don't remember feeling any special guilt at the time, but I sure feel it now. I wish I had known better. What lousy little shits. Looking back, I think that since daily prayer was required at OLMM, we should have prayed for simpler things: for charity and common decency. What good came from the numbing repetition of rosaries or the ingestion of communion wafers, if we had no sense of the miseries of George Sohn and Rose Anne Traynor? Memorizing prayers, singing boring hymns, being confined to novenas and retreats, mumbling beads, scourging faraway communists, hiding from imaginary or unconsidered threats, stroking relics all such practices did little to stir our consciences or help us recognize the sources of pain in ourselves and in our classmates. Worshipping some nebulous deity, whose very being had to be battered into our consciousness, did not seem to breed compassion for those wounded children next to us in class whom we had actually hurt. George. And Rose Anne.

Being kept after school infuriated me since it was the only time I could play baseball or stick ball or hang out with my friends. Once I was home the lid came down on my fun. But worse than being kept after school was having the punishing nun take me to the convent boiler room after being kept after school, a small, barren cement room except for the boiler that boomed on and off in the basement of the convent where special offenders were punished. When you went there it usually meant you didn't get home until after 6:00 P.M. I have very bad feelings about that place because I usually got punished at home after that happened: "Sister wouldn't do that unless you deserved it. Just in case that didn't help you, maybe this will." Duck. Head for cover. I hated the nuns: their looks, their manners, their methods, their deviant certainty about everything. I am dismayed by the popular media stereotypes of nuns as cute, adorable, musical, funny, innocent, and mischievously playful creatures. In my experience, they were vicious, deluded, dreary destroyers of youthful curiosity who employed virtually any tactic to control their students. They began by instituting a set of procedures that required acknowledgement of their authority. One daily procedure was their insistence that permission be granted for the simplest request. For example, we were required to raise ourhands and be recognized. Recognition granted, we would stand and ask: "Sister, may I leave the room?" "Sister, may I borrow a pencil from Annette?" "Sister, may I blow my nose?" In the lower grades, kids were always raising there hands to go to the bathroom even though we had regular intervals during the day, from kindergarten through about third grade when we would follow the magic walnut clicker down to the toilets. By fourth grade our bowels and bladders could tolerate a full morning of education. We would do our toilet march in columns of twos: boys in one row, girls in the other. We were told to hold hands on the way down. I remember Carol Bernstein's cold, clammy hand and nervous face when as first graders we walked together, holding hands. Arriving in the school basement near the cafeteria, the girls would peel off from the boys and head to the girls' toilet area. The boys would then scatter to the urinals and toilets in a frenzy to relieve their distended bladders and engorged bowels before pissing or shitting their pants. The success rate was about eighty percent. "Sister" would stand at the front of the porcelain urinal complex hurrying us along, insuring we didn't shake too much, and then knocking on toilet doors to acclerate food's lazy journey through our constricted colons.

Another procedure for requiring acknowledgement of "Sister's" power was the power to deny permission, permission to stand up, to speak, or to to leave the room. This power of denial was a "muscle" that had to be flexed intermittently to punish an irritating child, or to dismiss and minimize the urgency of a tedious request. This tactic, however, often exploded in our faces. Once every week or so, a child denied an exit visa would barf on the floor while making a gurgling dash for the door. Then confusion reigned. The revolting puddle in our midst inevitably generated its own horrid smell. Naturally we rushed to the spot to see exactly what vile matter had splashed over the floor and desk so we could be properly disgusted. But the nuns were prepared for almost all contingencies. Each classroom had been thoughtfully equipped with a fire bucket filled green

Long time, my man. Have been back in touch with Babe Dougherty through this site. What's happened to you in the last 55+ years? Does my stuff, here, jibe with your memories?

Bill

Bill Shaw

1/15/2014 10:35:27

Hi Richie...wshaw3@nc.rr.com -- where do you live now? Do you know what happened to any of the girls in our class? Helen Heim? Marguerite Gulotta? Dorothy Mastrenadi? Barbara Haley? Linda Hochreiter? June Reitman? Barbara Koeber?

Bill Shaw

2/11/2013 15:41:48

Each classroom had been thoughtfully equipped with a fire bucket filled green sawdust and a shovel. The green sawdust, which we later called "Catholic School Puke Dust," was sprinkled liberally over the vomit, left to soak and simmer, and then shoveled into an empty bucket. If the classroom didn't have the empty bucket, we had to spend the rest of the class day with that steamy green covered intruder simmering in our class while we plowed through the business of growing in wisdom and in Christ.

Physical beatings were commonplace: usually the smack across the face, sometimes with a clenched fist, frequently the nuns administered a hard rap to the top of the head with their wooden clickers. When I was in the seventh grade, I was caught wandering in the hallway without a pass by Sister Anne Joseph, a tall, muscular nun with the hint of a moustache. When questioned about my idling about, I must have smirked or responded with a wisecrack for Sister hit me flush on the chin with a right cross that sent me reeling backwards down a flight of stairs. I luckily latched onto the handrail during my descent to keep me from toppling head over heels. I landed flat on the lower landing, bumped and bruised but essentially unhurt. The sight of her gloating figure above me, however, inspired a flash of satanic invention. I began to shriek that I could not move my arms or legs. I screamed at her that she had paralyzed me. She bit. She began to wail and cry to God and me to forgive her. She kneeled down next to me trembling and terrified as much for herself as for me. "Oh, dear Jesus, what am I going to do?" "O, William, William I'm sorry. Please, forgive me, God, forgive me! Please be all right!" When I was satisfied that I had played out my string, I stood up and old her I felt much better, that I thought I'd be able to walk after all. She looked at me, confused but suddenly relieved. I think she realized she had been snookered, but her chagrin was more acceptable than the panic she had experienced a few moments ago. I was learning how to fight back.

The fearsome Sister Eleanor was the most pugnacious of this gaggle of quick fisted nuns. She was called "Ellie Eagle Beak" or just "The Beak" because she had a large, hooked proboscis. She was also a flawlessly smooth faced woman with sharp piercing smiling eyes. But the smile was the sort of smile you imagine on Dr. Mengele's eyes when he asked his patients how they were feeling today. She once confronted my brother, Bobby, on a disciplinary matter and stiffly smacked him in the face to make her point. My brother, about twelve at the time and, like me, tired of being every adult's punching bag, delivered a short right uppercut to her chin and dropped her like a black towel. Bobby was the champion among his fellow students that day, but he paid dearly for his KO. After he beat Bobby with his belt that night, my father arrived in my brother's class the next day, and vigorously spanked my brother's bare ass in front of his classmates "for his own good" and "to teach him a lesson."

Fear mongering was another nunly constant: "If you don't behave, I'll tell your parents!" or "God will not forget this!" or "God will punish you for this!" "Jesus will send you to hell if you persist!" Or guilt mongering: "How can you pretend to love the Virgin Mary after what you've just done?" "Don't you know the Baby Jesus and his Blessed Mother weep every time you misbehave?" Jesus was always a "baby" and Mary was always a "Virgin" or "Mother" when the nuns were cranking the guilt machine. Surely, only a twisted and vicious child would deliberately hurt a baby or a mother, not to mention a virgin. And "God" or "Jesus" was always a full grown, muscular man with a short fuse when they were trying to scare the shit out of you. These were the "Sisters of Notre Dame."

The "Sisters of Notre Dame" dressed in dark, woolen pleated robes with a broad white starched "habit" that looked like a breastplate, and a white cloth skull cap over which the black wimple was arched with its long, trailing veil falling down below the shoulders. Around their waists they wore a yard long set of rosary beads which they would mumble from time to time during the day. These beads probably held their knickers up as well. The sleeves of this garment were wide and blousy. "Sister" would often reach up her sleeve to pull out a pen, a stapler, a watch, or a ruler, or a little round harmonica used to get us on on pitch when we were about to chirp some pious ditty. If "Sister" had to sneeze or expectorate, she would deftly reach up her sleeve, pull out a tissue, retrieve the offending matter from her nose or mouth, and gracefully put the tissue back up her sleeve. This sleeve was a well stocked storage room, and no one would have been surprised if "Sister," in a madcap moment, had pulled out a rabbit or a duck.

This order was founded by a woman named "Julie." While we were in school, the late "Blessed Mother Julie" was in the pr

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Bill Shaw

2/11/2013 15:43:06

The nuns had the whip hand, the clicker hand. Almost all of them were trained in the stern arts of physical and psychological control. We surmised that they spent their evening hours pumping iron to develop their biceps and hairy forearms for the next day's rigors. Two nuns did not fit that description. My fourth grade teacher, Sister Marie Martin, was straight from central casting a tall woman with a blue eyes, soft skin, full lips and impeccable teeth. She had a kind, light hearted manner like Ingrid Bergman in "Going My Way." She would jump rope and play hopscotch with the girls and sometimes play stick ball with the guys. And she even had large breasts that could not be muffled under her broad white, starched collar and blousy robes. I thought she had to be the only sexy nun in nundom.

The other nun, my sixth grade teacher, Sister Margaret Ignatius, was quite the opposite. She was perhaps the most inept of the nuns at OLMM. When we entered her class, we were greeted by a woman in her early sixties. Her complexion was blanched, tired, and creased. She wore a hearing aid, spoke in a shallow, shaky voice, and seemed intensely ill at ease. We smelled weakness, and it smelled good. The boys in the class began acting like the snarling, restless prisoners just released on Bastille Day. We were giddy with expectation. George Krause started the "fun" by answering "Sister" questions in a mumbled double talk, causing her to wince in incomprehension, sometimes impatiently tapping her hearing aid. Other guys, I among them, would start asking outrageous questions in class to distract her from her tasks: "Do angels eat food? If so, do they get gas and go to the bathroom?" "Were St. Joseph and Mary celibate all their married life after Jesus was born?" "Did Jesus have a girlfriend when he was a man?" "If Joseph was a carpenter, what were a carpenter's wages back then and did they have a union?" We would try to ask these questions in a deadpan, totally serious fashion. But it was tough; somebody would always crack up and start the class laughing. For a while this gullible nun would actually try to answer these questions. The girls in class eventually joined the "fun." We would invent "rowing" contests during class. Each of the six rows of desks in the class would start "rowing" with imaginary oars in a make believe boat, one row of students surging against the other, while "Sister" would fluster and shout angry commands in her wispy, shaky voice. Things got worse. We organized sneezing outbursts at a designated moment during class, and every sneeze exploded in a tabooed word, snorts and achoos that sounded strangely like: "Bullshit!" "Fuck you!" "Up yours!" "Blow job!" "Eat shit!" There were also synchronized moments for flying missiles: crumpled pieces of paper, spitballs, erasers, peashooters, water guns. Debris filled the air. Sometimes, we jumped on our seats in mock terror as non existent rodents ran wild among us. It was our Pague spring and it was glorious. But it didn't last long before the Soviet tanks moved in and reinstituted totalitarian rule.

The boys and girls in my class were an odd assortment of working class kids. My father was a city fireman and moonlighting photographer. The others were sons of policemen, dock workers, salesmen, delivery men. Almost all their fathers were veterans of WWII. Some had fathers who were killed in the war. Most of the mothers worked at home. But some were telephone operators or salespeople. Not too many sons of lawyers, doctors, or teachers, here. My high school was very similar. I never actually mingled with the wealthier classes until I went to college.

I remember some of my classmates faintly: Martin Sendlein was a young "old man" with a deep grumpy voice, crooked yellow teeth, glasses, grayish brown hair and a facility with arithmetic. He looked like a mad scientist or a small town doctor so we called him "Doc." But he had a wry and playful sense of humor. John Daugherty ("Babe") was a lean, freckle faced kid with moss covered teeth who seemed always to have a stuffed and runny nose. His large family was very poor, and he almost never had anyone over to his house because it was so crowded and unkempt. He always wore a dirty, salty smelling, wrinkled white shirt and his pants never fit well because they were hand me downs. But he was fearless, enjoyed a good prank, and laughed freely. Richie Spivack had a bright cheery freckled face; he looked like Howdy Doody and was frequently reminded of that. Richie was a chronic nose picker. And booger eater. He was picking and eating boogers well into the sixth grade. And he could not be shamed. If you ridiculed him, he would laugh and say you were jealous, or he would dig in, retrieve a slimy specimen, and offer it to you as an exotic treat. Vinnie Marchione, mentioned above, was the shortest, but most lascivious guy of our class. He must have had the hormones and the gonads of a monkey, because he was always bringing in

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Bill Shaw

2/11/2013 15:45:51

Vinnie Marchione, mentioned above, was the shortest, but most lascivious guy of our class. He must have had the hormones and the gonads of a monkey, because he was always bringing in pictures of naked women, French playing cards with a lot of screwing going on. And he always tried to sit behind Barbara Haley. Barbara was the first girl in our class with full sized tits. She was proud of them and gaily flaunted them. We rejoiced. Vinnie, however, would grab one of her boobs every time she raised her hand to ask a question, and she was an active class participant. Vinnie would also follow her into the cloak room to cop a feel. She didn't seem to mind. It later got so that every time Barbara went into the cloak room, four or five guys would follow, and you'd hear all this rustling, squealing and giggling. Vinnie only got caught once, but it was "The Beak" who caught him and she pummeled him when it happened. In high school, Barbara became the girlfriend of "Chink," the sly, smiling, but ruthless, leader of a local gang called the "Chaplains." She wore toreador tights and tight tee shirts and sweaters, then, and sashayed like a gun moll from a B movie.

That was about as sexy as it got at OLMM. But some time around fifth grade, the boys took to masturbating. Most of us, though, had the good sense to sneak our "chicken choking," "meat beating," "salami slamming," "dummy wacking" at home. Richie Stegman, however, a smiling, plump, red haired guy with deep dimples in his cheeks and one in his chin, had no such boundaries. He would plunge his hand in his pocket and jerk off wherever and whenever the spirit moved him. Even in class. The nun caught him one day and whisked him out of the class and down to Sister Superior's office on the first floor, where it was discovered that Richie had large holes torn in both pockets to facilitate his hobby. Needless to say he was sent home with a note recording his deviance. Soon after, Sister Superior instituted what we later called "Stegman's Law." She sent notes to parents to check all boys' trousers' pockets for holes. Once discovered, they were to be sewn up immediately. Every week or so, we boys had to stand up in class and turn our pockets inside out. Any boy with a hole that would allow passage of two or more fingers was sent home on the spot. But Richie was unmoved by this new vigilance. He knew what he liked, and he would not be denied. Necessity was clearly the mother of his masturbatory invention; he claimed he no longer had to whack off the old way, because he had learned how to "think himself off." He took great pride in this, and gained a measure of respect, whenever he explained the technique to his classmates.

Jim Harrington was a tall, hefty boy with gat teeth. He got braces in the sixth grade to fix his this condition. These braces had rubber bands on them that he was always flicking and sucking. He was one of the better mannered kids in our class and was appalled at the idea of having food stuck in his braces and bands. He was a good student and always acted as if he and I were in some sort of academic competition. I never thought we were, because I actually didn't care that much about work or grades. Or school for that matter. Jim was amused by, but kept distant from, the low and gross behavior of his classmates. He was a young kid on a career track and wanted to get into one of the best high schools, Brooklyn Tech, so he studied seriously.

We had some peculiar rituals at OLMM. The nuns would begin class every day with the Pledge of Allegiance. Then we would kneel on the wooden floor and say morning prayers: an "Our Father," a "Hail Mary," a "Gloria" or two; then, we would say a special petition for the conversion of Russia. This invocation was apparently designed not only to convince Stalin to stop threatening the USA with nuclear war, or to stop sending his own poor citizens to extermination camps, but mainly for him and his renegade nation to come to their senses and become Roman Catholics. We also prayed for Joe McCarthy, to give him help in rooting the Communists out of our spy ridden State department. Sister Superior would often come into class and lead this particular prayer. Sister Superior looked like the Wicked Witch of the West, a bent old woman, complete with a long bony nose that had a noticeable wart with a tuft of dark hair on it. She was as mean as a rattlesnake, and she had a real hard on about Communists. About once a week we would do a drill to protect us in the event the Commies pulled a surprise nuclear attack. The drill consisted of getting under our desks and putting our hands over our heads. The clerical authorities apparently believed it was better to be vaporized in a fetal position under your desk with your ass sticking out than dashing for the door or running down the hall. The nuns also used the threat of nuclear war and its menu of death to scare us into righteousness. They routinely embellished their apocalyptic musings with

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Bill Shaw

2/11/2013 15:45:57

Vinnie Marchione, mentioned above, was the shortest, but most lascivious guy of our class. He must have had the hormones and the gonads of a monkey, because he was always bringing in pictures of naked women, French playing cards with a lot of screwing going on. And he always tried to sit behind Barbara Haley. Barbara was the first girl in our class with full sized tits. She was proud of them and gaily flaunted them. We rejoiced. Vinnie, however, would grab one of her boobs every time she raised her hand to ask a question, and she was an active class participant. Vinnie would also follow her into the cloak room to cop a feel. She didn't seem to mind. It later got so that every time Barbara went into the cloak room, four or five guys would follow, and you'd hear all this rustling, squealing and giggling. Vinnie only got caught once, but it was "The Beak" who caught him and she pummeled him when it happened. In high school, Barbara became the girlfriend of "Chink," the sly, smiling, but ruthless, leader of a local gang called the "Chaplains." She wore toreador tights and tight tee shirts and sweaters, then, and sashayed like a gun moll from a B movie.

That was about as sexy as it got at OLMM. But some time around fifth grade, the boys took to masturbating. Most of us, though, had the good sense to sneak our "chicken choking," "meat beating," "salami slamming," "dummy wacking" at home. Richie Stegman, however, a smiling, plump, red haired guy with deep dimples in his cheeks and one in his chin, had no such boundaries. He would plunge his hand in his pocket and jerk off wherever and whenever the spirit moved him. Even in class. The nun caught him one day and whisked him out of the class and down to Sister Superior's office on the first floor, where it was discovered that Richie had large holes torn in both pockets to facilitate his hobby. Needless to say he was sent home with a note recording his deviance. Soon after, Sister Superior instituted what we later called "Stegman's Law." She sent notes to parents to check all boys' trousers' pockets for holes. Once discovered, they were to be sewn up immediately. Every week or so, we boys had to stand up in class and turn our pockets inside out. Any boy with a hole that would allow passage of two or more fingers was sent home on the spot. But Richie was unmoved by this new vigilance. He knew what he liked, and he would not be denied. Necessity was clearly the mother of his masturbatory invention; he claimed he no longer had to whack off the old way, because he had learned how to "think himself off." He took great pride in this, and gained a measure of respect, whenever he explained the technique to his classmates.

Jim Harrington was a tall, hefty boy with gat teeth. He got braces in the sixth grade to fix his this condition. These braces had rubber bands on them that he was always flicking and sucking. He was one of the better mannered kids in our class and was appalled at the idea of having food stuck in his braces and bands. He was a good student and always acted as if he and I were in some sort of academic competition. I never thought we were, because I actually didn't care that much about work or grades. Or school for that matter. Jim was amused by, but kept distant from, the low and gross behavior of his classmates. He was a young kid on a career track and wanted to get into one of the best high schools, Brooklyn Tech, so he studied seriously.

We had some peculiar rituals at OLMM. The nuns would begin class every day with the Pledge of Allegiance. Then we would kneel on the wooden floor and say morning prayers: an "Our Father," a "Hail Mary," a "Gloria" or two; then, we would say a special petition for the conversion of Russia. This invocation was apparently designed not only to convince Stalin to stop threatening the USA with nuclear war, or to stop sending his own poor citizens to extermination camps, but mainly for him and his renegade nation to come to their senses and become Roman Catholics. We also prayed for Joe McCarthy, to give him help in rooting the Communists out of our spy ridden State department. Sister Superior would often come into class and lead this particular prayer. Sister Superior looked like the Wicked Witch of the West, a bent old woman, complete with a long bony nose that had a noticeable wart with a tuft of dark hair on it. She was as mean as a rattlesnake, and she had a real hard on about Communists. About once a week we would do a drill to protect us in the event the Commies pulled a surprise nuclear attack. The drill consisted of getting under our desks and putting our hands over our heads. The clerical authorities apparently believed it was better to be vaporized in a fetal position under your desk with your ass sticking out than dashing for the door or running down the hall. The nuns also used the threat of nuclear war and its menu of death to scare us into righteousness. They routinely embellished their apocalyptic musings with

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Bill Shaw

2/11/2013 15:49:58

They routinely embellished their apocalyptic musings with a horrific tale about how Pius XII had opened the Vatican safe sometime in the late '40s and impatiently snuck a peek at the Fatima letter. This letter, purportedly written by Virgin Mary, was delivered by the Fatima children, circa 1917, with the specific warning that it should not be opened until 1960. Apparently, when the impetuous Pope unsealed the letter and read its contents, he was so shocked, he fainted. The nuns deduced, or divined, that the letter predicted a nuclear holocaust in 1960 that would destroy the world. This turn of events really pissed me off. I thought: just my luck for the world to end during my life. I felt fear, anger, and impatience. I was only about ten when the nuns were circulating this tale which I believed. I calculated that I had barely eight years left, eight years in which to get my house in order, namely to get laid and have my own car before being radiated and sent airborne in a mushroom cloud. I could be a freshman in college when the bomb dropped if I lived that long and made it that far.

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Richie from OLMM

6/14/2013 14:11:27

Hi, Bill, today John Dougherty forwarded the growing up in Ridgewood site and I saw your name. There were several Richie's in the class, I get a card from Rich Schwinn every year and he told me Richie Stegiman was killed many years ago on the LIE. I remenber some of the nuns and in looking back I owe them plenty. I dropper out of high school and went into the Air Force. While in the service I became very greatful for the education the nuns gave us. After the service I finally went to College and had a succseeful career in the insurance nad reinsurance business. I am retired and living in Virginia Beach about a mile from my brother Tom. I'll stay in touch and write more later. Good to hear your stories.

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Bill Shaw

6/15/2013 11:06:49

Hi Richie...Is this Richie Spivack? So good to hear from you. I just got a great note from John "Babe" Dougherty and am back in touch with him. Sorry to hear about Richie Stegman. People love those stories I told about him with the "pocket pool." Sounds like you are doing well. I am healthy and happy. Hope you are and that we remain so for a good while to come. All my best, Bill Shaw

Marlene Vollmerding Smith

3/4/2013 21:43:43

My dad owned Vollmerdings on Myrtle #61-50 I think. I remember the candy store, the hobby shop, the chinese restaurant on the same block with REAL orange trees growing in the lobby. The owner of the carpet place across the street used to come in every day for lunch and my dad would make him a burger and a martini. I used to love going to work with dad!!!! My job was to count and roll the change from the jukebox and the cig machine and then fold napkins. If I was lucky and finished fast, I could get a few bucks and go down to the candy store or hobby shop, but only if I took "Lucky" with me. He was the doberman my dad kept as our "night watchman". Really good memories of playing "Leroy Brown" on the jukebox so many times, the customers complained or unplugged it and told me it was broken.
Do any of you remember my dad? His name is Wilfred (Willy). He used to have an giant empty pickle jar behind the bar and collected donations all year long for the neighborhood Christmas party he had every year. My grandfather would dress up as Santa and everyone got a free gift from his bag.
I would LOVE it if anyone has a picture of Vollmerdings. It's really part of my heritage and would love to show my kids. We had a few pics, but they were destroyed a few years ago in a flood. I hear the old corner is a Rite-aid now.

Awesome memories Marlene ... remember Vollmerding's well from passing it all the time and used to stop into that Chinese restaurant for a pot of tea and (free) noodles with apricot dip. And remember that carpet store too.

It was such a joy reading all the comments about good old Ridgewood. I didn't realize how much I've forgotten till now...lol
I grew up on Woodward Ave & Grandview Ave. from 1954-1977, went to PS 71, 81, 93 & Grover Cleveland. Lost touch with many classmates & neighborhood friends and would so enjoy reconnecting.
Happy Easter!!

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robert williams

4/23/2013 18:15:08

I know most of us grew up in Ridgewood I want to tell you my former sister in Law Judy Spence who lived and Grew up on Grove street between Onderdonk & Woodward Aves has passed Away at the age of 55 originally lived on Putnam ave near Bushwick High School and then Her Family moving to Grove street in 1970 or 1971. We All Grew up as Children from that time, She had cancer the last several months and nothing could be done she was a Wonderful and Loving Woman , Once Married to Don Lucia also of ridewood she was 55 years old God Bless you Judy Spence and to All of you who Read this Tell Others. Thanks. Bob.

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Dennis Barvels

5/3/2013 08:48:24

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Dennis Barvrls

5/3/2013 14:56:55

I remember that candy store very well. Lived in Ridgewood from 1947 till 1971. Went to St. Brigid and then Grover Cleveland. Graduated in 1964. Lived at 1861 Menahan St. between Woodward and Onderdonk. Played stick ball in the streets every summer day. Basket ball at the "RED" school on Bleeker and Senca and Softball at P.S. 81. When I was older hung at at Mr. Steiber's Bar on Bleeker and Onderdonk and Had a Softball team called Club 13. GREAT place to grow up. We had the best German bakery's, the one on Woodward between Menahan and Grove. Love to hear more from anyone.

Dennis
You would be about five years older than me but I too played B-ball in the red 600 school on Seneca and Bleeker and park next to Grover Cleveland. I believe the bar you refer to as Mr Steiber was later bought by my step father Jerry Dempsey.

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Chuck L

6/28/2014 18:22:43

Dennis
You would be about five years older than me but I too played B-ball in the red 600 school on Seneca and Bleeker and park next to Grover Cleveland. I believe the bar you refer to as Mr Steiber was later bought by my step father Jerry Dempsey.

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Chuck L

6/28/2014 18:23:10

Dennis
You would be about five years older than me but I too played B-ball in the red 600 school on Seneca and Bleeker and park next to Grover Cleveland. I believe the bar you refer to as Mr Steiber was later bought by my step father Jerry Dempsey.

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Joyce Polito

5/5/2013 13:02:16

Is there any one on here that lived on Grove Street btw Myrtle And Knickerbocker ..They called it the 6 corners ..

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Ronald Landry

5/6/2013 09:19:32

I lived on Grove between Wyckoff and Irving (Myrtle) during the years 1963-1974. My cousins attended P.S. 116 and I attended St. Brigid.

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jim roggio

8/6/2013 15:36:54

516 509 9600

Kathy M

5/6/2013 11:37:06

Does anyone know of a Janet Kratzer (maiden name); she married a guy named Dennis. She grew up on Bleecker Ave. and a sister named Helen and a younger brother named Richard (I think).

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joyce Polito

5/11/2013 22:46:39

I went to 116 on grove st Ronald Landry what where your cousins name?

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Ronald Landry

5/12/2013 10:55:47

My cousins were Richard Aponte, Joseph Aponte (Pepe) and Dominick Aponte. I remember that a friend of mine named Charlie Venza lived on your block. If I remember correctly, the principal of the school was Henry Cash and the Assistant Principal was Dorothy Conroy. We lived on block up at 355.

I was born in ridgewood,1951, my dad owned the LaSala Funeral Home on central ave and cornelia st. I am wondering if anyone remembers when a freight train was left unlocked behind the RIDGEWOOD LANES bowling alley? all the kids raided the train taking home these huge chocolate blocks..chocolate for months! any more stories about CRAZY GEORGE?? thanks, Tony

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Mikey

5/24/2013 11:18:07

Anyone remember Alfred AKA "Happy"? He worked overnight making bread in the bakery on Cypress and Harman. All you had to do was mention bread crumbs and he would lose his mind. "NO MORE BREAD CRUMBS"!

I remember one night he emptied out every piece of bread and all the raw dough from the bakery on to Cypress ave. He was attacking cars and screaming about bread crumbs when the cops came and carted him off.

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tony lasala

5/26/2013 15:40:51

I worked in that bakery and sliced my pinky finger tip off slicing cold cuts! The bakery was called "Leale's" and was owned by Sam Leale. It looked just like the bakery Nicolas Cage worked in in "Moonstruck"!
Sam taught me how to make "scaleda bread"!

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James Scaturro

6/12/2014 21:15:33

I remember happy. I used to live in that bakery when friends owned it . They were older then me and I thought they were so cool . It was called Filippi and Amoruso . Man those were the times . I think they bought it from Leale

I appreciate what I'm reading here. I love it. I was born in Bridgeport, Ct. in 1932. The Great Depression led to our moving to Middle Village and we lived right next to the Fresh Pond Crematory. We were known as the people who lived on the hill. In 1939 we moved to Ridgewood and I lived at 66-45 Fresh Pond Road. That was between Woodbine Street and Madison. I have written a memoir of my youthful years. It is a trilogy and the first volume is free at Amazon on Kindle. See the reviews. They tell it all. Hope you get it. The title is "I Had Jelly on My Nose and A Hole in My Breeches." I had a truly exciting life and all who read it find the book enjoyable. It is free for five days beginning 8/1/13. Let me know how much you enjoyed it.

HI!
When I lived in Ridgewood, I went to St. Aloysius School.
I remember crazy George. He passed by our house one day at
404 Seneca Ave. He took a broom and balanced it on his nose.
We all laughed.
When shopping one day, George rode around Bohack on his bike. At the check out counter, he turned his lip up over his nose, and tapped my cousin on her shoulder. It scared the devil out of her, as we all laughed.
I remember going to Grover Cleveland park on the swings, feeding the squirrels, and playing ball on the grass. Nobody had to worry about any crime. There was an empty lot acroos the street where we wold catch butterflies.
All the old ladies sitting on the bencfh were like free babysitters for our parents, If we did any thing wrong, they would tell us to stop.
We respected them and heeded thier warning. Life in Ridgewood then would be considered a utopia in todays world.
I remember Mrs. Stoltz in the old brown house, Mrs Kaufman in the grocery store, Pearl and Harry in the Resturant across the street. Mr. Monze owned the corner liquor store.
Our neighbors were Mr. and Mrs. Shaffer, Mrs Helen and John Schuster. My playmates and freinds were at different times, James Healey,Vencenza and Andrea, Laura and Johanna Carrita, Doreen Schuster, Diane Fitzgerald, Colletta Feaster, Carol Ediquitte,
Eileen Muller, Margaret Obrien, Alice Savikas, etc. I often wonder where they are all today.

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Eileen Hoffmann

8/27/2013 01:29:50

After readin all of these posts it was great to reminicse Ridgewood.

Chuck L --Did you know Diane Fitzgerald.

Lynn--- I remember Cherry Valley. You had the best rice pudding in the world,as you then became a big company on Long Island.
I am sorry to say, that the last three years, your rice and tapioca pudding has a down fall. The rice and tapioca needs to be cooked more etc. I have stopped buying it.

Kathy- I remember POP'S candy store. When I lived with my aunt for awhile on Putnam Ave, I took the bus there every morning to go to St. Aloysius School.

Joyce-- My aunt bought furniture from Deutch, and later on so did I.
He had a bull dog that looked vicious, but it was a big loveable baby.

Jim McKewen-- Was the name of the Price twins Mildred and Sally, and Did they go to St A.

Susan-- I remember the carvel on metrpolitan Ave. We went there quit often, especially for birthday cakes.

Bill Shaw-- Yes, some of the nuns were quite abusive, but some of them were angels.

In St. Aloysius, Sisters Mildred, Adrienne Marie,and Catherine were nasty, and Veronica was a devil out of hell. I believe that some of these nuns were mentally ill.

Sisters Alberta, Luka, Rita Marie, Joan Eleizabeth and
Miriam David were the angels. Sister Rita was my friend for many years after I graduated.

I also remember the knitting mill on Seneca and Stockholm St, but I do not remember any odors. This mill made clothes only.
There was another small knitting mill on Seneca and Himrod St.

Our friend Camille lived in the house next to it, and my freind kathy in the same building. There was an empty lot nearby, which later on became a soda and beer distributor.

I remember a small candy store on Himrod street between Seneca and Cypress Aves. My friend Colletta's parents owned a small candy store on Harman and Cypress. She had a small pekinese dog, and would pick up stray cats.

I remember the old St. Aloyisius School on Onderdonk Ave.that was eventually condemed and torn down. I was wondering if anyone had pictures of it.

. Then they built a new one on Seneca Ave. Raising funds for it was almost impossible.

I remember Koch Pharmacy on Onderdonk Ave. If you needed medicine and did not have the money, he gave it to you. Everybody always paid him back.

I remember Dr. William Fuchs. He was always there when you needed him. Everybody was sad when he decided to semi-retire out to Long Island.

I rmember the pigeons across the street. The owner on the roof, would take a stick, and nudge them to fly to keep them healthy.

I remember riding my bike alone at ten years old on Fourth of July around the block at 12 midnight. There was no crime rate. We never had a problem. Everyone was sitting out on their stoops, and was friendly. It was 1958.

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Chuck L

8/27/2013 19:58:37

Eileen
I do not recall Diane Fitzgerald. I lived on Harmon between Cypress and Seneca. The candy store your friend parents owned was it Jim or the family he later sold it to? Billie was her name and she had daughters one of which would babysit me an d my brother. You are so right about bike riding all the time and all over Ridgewood. Even venturing out to Middle Village and Glendale. I had a paper route for the 'Press'. The LI Press if I remember correctly and would deliver to Greene Ave. Harmon and Himrod between Wyckoff and Woodward. I rennet the empty lot before the beer distributor right after Christmas when we would gather all the old trees and burn them in the lot then run when the fire trucks came up Himrod. We would get free samples of hero rolls from the bakery on Harman Nd Cypress. Great memories.

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Chuck L

8/27/2013 19:58:48

Eileen
I do not recall Diane Fitzgerald. I lived on Harmon between Cypress and Seneca. The candy store your friend parents owned was it Jim or the family he later sold it to? Billie was her name and she had daughters one of which would babysit me an d my brother. You are so right about bike riding all the time and all over Ridgewood. Even venturing out to Middle Village and Glendale. I had a paper route for the 'Press'. The LI Press if I remember correctly and would deliver to Greene Ave. Harmon and Himrod between Wyckoff and Woodward. I rennet the empty lot before the beer distributor right after Christmas when we would gather all the old trees and burn them in the lot then run when the fire trucks came up Himrod. We would get free samples of hero rolls from the bakery on Harman Nd Cypress. Great memories.

Great memories Eileen, thanks for sharing them. As for the odor from the factory on Stockholm and Seneca ... you didn't grow up right next door to it. Everyone that did could attest to the chemical smells that cooked out of the chimney - yes, it was a knitting mill - knitting mills and their machinery utilize a number of caustic chemicals, especially in the 60's and 70's. It had gotten so bad that the white clothes that we hung on our clothes lines turned grey. We actually were able to force the mill to place a filter on their chimney stack because of it. Appreciate your comments ... 1958 must have been really nice in Ridgewood.

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Anthony

3/15/2014 23:06:17

Went to st aloysius from 1957 to 1964 remember sister Margaret Louis we all loves her had her in 4th grade and sister Martin Benedict in 7th they were dolls

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Chuck L

8/27/2013 20:00:18

Eileen
I do not recall Diane Fitzgerald. I lived on Harmon between Cypress and Seneca. The candy store your friend parents owned was it Jim or the family he later sold it to? Billie was her name and she had daughters one of which would babysit me an d my brother. You are so right about bike riding all the time and all over Ridgewood. Even venturing out to Middle Village and Glendale. I had a paper route for the 'Press'. The LI Press if I remember correctly and would deliver to Greene Ave. Harmon and Himrod between Wyckoff and Woodward. I rennet the empty lot before the beer distributor right after Christmas when we would gather all the old trees and burn them in the lot then run when the fire trucks came up Himrod. We would get free samples of hero rolls from the bakery on Harman Nd Cypress. Great memories.

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Chuck L

8/27/2013 20:00:28

Eileen
I do not recall Diane Fitzgerald. I lived on Harmon between Cypress and Seneca. The candy store your friend parents owned was it Jim or the family he later sold it to? Billie was her name and she had daughters one of which would babysit me an d my brother. You are so right about bike riding all the time and all over Ridgewood. Even venturing out to Middle Village and Glendale. I had a paper route for the 'Press'. The LI Press if I remember correctly and would deliver to Greene Ave. Harmon and Himrod between Wyckoff and Woodward. I rennet the empty lot before the beer distributor right after Christmas when we would gather all the old trees and burn them in the lot then run when the fire trucks came up Himrod. We would get free samples of hero rolls from the bakery on Harman Nd Cypress. Great memories.

I love hearing stories from Ridgewood . I grew up on woodbine st . right off Myrtle Ave , I never had a day with nothing to do stick ball , handball , slap ball , . Omg if there was a box from a new frigg or other big appliance or just making forts with sheets on the fence . I remember family was always together on Sundays when all the stores except under the L rolls and news papers were closed everyone went to church in the morning and the rest of Sunday was always quiet. Would walk up to 93 park with my sister and hangout with her friends play hand ball or go play on the swings or see saw . I will never forget the pizza Corotos on myrtle ave Sal would always be joking and kidding miss that a lot I own a pizza place in Delaware but nothing I mean nothing compares to NY pizza. Oh and the Italian ice in the summer and waiting for the whip it ride or King Kong to come around and sometimes I would catch the good humor truck . My mom would call out from the window calling all 6 of us by name for dinner 6 on the dot never early never late . Oh and does anyone remember the black outs in the summer everyone would be out real late cause it was to hot to stay in the apartment . I wish I could go back to those days when life was easier and not so violent dam today you have to be afraid to let your kids play outside then at 5 yrs old I would walk 6 blocks to school at PS 81 and when I went home for lunch I would walk back and forth never afraid of being raped or snatched . I remember twin towers as well I was the same age as you and I remember the smells from my friends houses I tell me daughters how my friend Isabella her house always smelled so good my family was one of the Germans but I had all kind of friends from all different cultures . I'm gonna check and look for your book I'm so excited to have something from my childhood since I can never go back .

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Chuck L

7/8/2014 20:08:27

Fond memories also of Corato Pizza - my mom and brother would get slices there and me, not liking pizza then would walk to Wyckoff and Myrtle to get hot dogs under the El. Soon learned to love pizza. Walking along Myrtle window shopping before or after flicks at Madison or Ridgewood theater. Gradually the window gates went up then all you could do was look from the sidewalk.
Went to PS 81 walked everyday passed Bennies pizza on Greene And Cypress. Used to go there after some Cub Scout meetings at PS 81. Pack 270 - just came to me. Graduated to Boy Scouts troop 364 then 365 with Father OHalloren and KSeyfried. Also remember walking to Ridgewood Savings Bank from Harman and Cypress with rent receipts ( not us we were renters) this was a friend. Went to JHS 93 then made the jump to Tech. Graduated in 69.

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Ben Antanaitis

3/3/2015 14:41:40

1818 Greene Avenue, bet Seneca and Onderdunk. '47-'69. Went to PS 81 JHS 73 Maspeth, Newtown HS, Pratt Institue..30 yrs IBM (retired Senior Scientist). Ate pizza at Bennies, road the B38 and the B58 buses to school. Walked on Seneca from Green to Palmetto St. to play pool at a dive named Lefty's and then grab one of the best crunchy hot dogs smothered in wet saurkraut from a store front place on the corner of Myrtle and St. Nicholas Ave. Would eat chinese food in a resteraunt one-floor-up by the RKO Madison. Yeah, I remember Ridgewood. Spent hundreds of hours in the Public Library across the street from PS93, on Madison. I was in Cub Scouts and BSA Troop 364/365. I was a JASM for Ken Seyfried. Made Eagle in 1965. Regards, Ben

Chuck L

7/8/2014 20:08:54

Fond memories also of Corato Pizza - my mom and brother would get slices there and me, not liking pizza then would walk to Wyckoff and Myrtle to get hot dogs under the El. Soon learned to love pizza. Walking along Myrtle window shopping before or after flicks at Madison or Ridgewood theater. Gradually the window gates went up then all you could do was look from the sidewalk.
Went to PS 81 walked everyday passed Bennies pizza on Greene And Cypress. Used to go there after some Cub Scout meetings at PS 81. Pack 270 - just came to me. Graduated to Boy Scouts troop 364 then 365 with Father OHalloren and KSeyfried. Also remember walking to Ridgewood Savings Bank from Harman and Cypress with rent receipts ( not us we were renters) this was a friend. Went to JHS 93 then made the jump to Tech. Graduated in 69.

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Kathy Traina

7/9/2014 08:37:12

Since you graduated in '69, did you know a Glenn Winter, Joe Esposito, Don Huebner, and/or Larry Traina? They all graduated that year - know it was a huge school, but was just curious.

chuckL

8/1/2014 11:57:27

I do remember a Donald Huebner and a Larry Traina, I think from riding Myrtle Ave el back and forth to Tech? Maybe from JHS 93 on Forest Ave?

Kathy T

10/14/2014 13:36:13

FYI - Don Huebner passed away in 2008.

Joyce Polito

9/16/2013 21:40:27

Does any one recall a Beth Anne Barkey

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robert williams

9/29/2013 21:21:55

the passing of a long time ridgewood resident Benjamin Williams who grew up on Bleeker st.and cypress av. he was 52 born 1961-2013 .
Benjamin Williams of Monroe, NY entered into rest on September 21, 2013. He was 52.
Benjamin was born in Ridgewood, NY on May 31, 1961 to George and Josephine (Testa) Williams. He was the husband of Christine Matsis Williams. Benjamin was a loving husband and father, his family was his life. Benjamin was a retired NYPD Police officer and was employed by CBS for the David Letterman Show. He was also a member of the Fraternal Order of Police. Benjamin loved fishing and had the ability to make anyone laugh. He is survived by his loving wife Christina Williams; Sons, Benjamin C. Williams and Matthew P. Williams; daughter, Alexa N. Williams all of Blooming Grove, NY; his mother, Josephine Williams of Ridgewood, NY; sister, Clarice and her husband Anthony Olivieri of Queens, NY; God Daughter, Nicole Rammelkamp and nieces Arianna, Alyssa and Krista Olivieri. Visitation will be held Thursday, September 26 & Friday September 27 from 2-4 & 6-9pm at David T. Ferguson Funeral Home, Washingtonville, NY. A Mass of Christian burial will be held Saturday, September 28, 10am at St. Mary's Church in Washingtonville, NY. Burial will immediately follow at 11am in St. Mary's Cemetery in Washingtonville, NY. Arrangements under the care of Thomas A. Murray of David T. Ferguson Funeral Home, 20 North St, Washingtonville, NY 10992, 845-496-9106. For more info, directions or to leave condolences or a fond memory for the family please visit

As a young kid from Pennsylvania, moving to Queens was quite an eye-opener. The first place my roommates took me to was the Eagles Nest in Ridgewood. OMG, by far the best burgers ever. I lived the atmosphere and the beer. It was the only place where only two people had a picture hung by the bar - frank Sinatra and the Pope.What happened to it? Let's resurrect it and have a great place to hang and enjoy great people, beer and the very best burgers ever.

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Mikey

12/3/2013 14:34:33

Years later, there were three pictures at the bar after the passing of their long time "chef" responsible for the great burgers at the Eagles Nest, Russel "Poppy" Waterhouse, Frank Sinatra and the pope.

I have been using Russel's secret recipe for years and it's always a big hit.

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kathy

5/31/2014 04:16:27

Mikey I would love to know more about u since u know so much about my grandfather Poppy, not many people would know that much about him. I would love to know how u got his recipe.

Mikey

12/3/2013 14:34:52

Years later, there were three pictures at the bar after the passing of their long time "chef" responsible for the great burgers at the Eagles Nest, Russel "Poppy" Waterhouse, Frank Sinatra and the pope.

I have been using Russel's secret recipe for years and it's always a big hit.

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Carolyn

11/8/2014 13:31:59

I recently came to understand that there were 2 Eagles Nest taverns. The one I remember was on Hart and Irving. More so Brooklyn than Ridgewood, I guess, but I'm curious because it all sounds so similar. Can you please clarify which one is being referenced here? My uncle and dad owned the one I'm talking about.

Years later, there were three pictures at the bar after the passing of their long time "chef" responsible for the great burgers at the Eagles Nest, Russel "Poppy" Waterhouse, Frank Sinatra and the pope.

I have been using Russel's secret recipe for years and it's always a big hit.

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John P. Sinski

12/11/2013 20:57:55

Hi, Born in Wyckoff Heights Hospital and lived on 69 ave. between Forest ave. and Onderdonk ave 1952 to 71 . Attended St. Matthias elementary school to 1966 and Christ the King H.S. to 1970. Moved to Ozone Park in 1973. Wonderful memories of Ridgewood. A grand mother on Menahan street and a grandmother on Woodbine st. Learned to bowl in Ridgewood lanes which at the time (1961) was the largest bowling alley in the U.S. with 90 lanes. Before the lanes were built the building was used to build Walther trucks. Handball and softball at the Farmers oval. Hanging out and at times working at Glenwood Bowl. Could go on and on. Will always remember how beautiful St.Matthias church was in and out. Just recently the doctor that delivered me and my brother passed away at 103 years young. Dr Bruno Lambert had his office on Catalpa ave. across from the church rectory. The man did house calls into his 80's. You will never see that again.

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Bobbie W.

12/18/2013 10:22:48

My uncle Hans and father, Randolph Whitman used to live on 563 Fairview Avenue, right by Menahan and Grover Cleveland from 1943 to 1972. They're long dead now, but I hear that they were pretty bad guys. If anybody knew of them or has any stories, I'd love to hear about it privately, as I'm trying to construct a family history.

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Bill Shaw

1/19/2014 13:34:56

I knew Hans when he was a kid. I lived about three blocks from him. (Read above). Hans had a hair lip. He was a smart kid but had a serious chip on his shoulder. My understanding is that he got shot to death. True? He was a bad dude. He hung around with a tough crowd -- "Chink" and some others, but he was not as tough as they. He was more of a punk, a hanger on. There was a gang or two around the neighborhood. I think one of them was called the "Chaplains." He may have been a part of one of them, All best, Bill Shaw

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Frank Marx

3/27/2014 22:09:47

Is this the same Bill Shaw that I knew from Karl's the old homestead? I knew Pat Demaria and Sonny Barbaro. I played a lot of Ball in those days

Bill Shaw

3/28/2014 08:44:44

Hi Frank,

Yes, same Bill Shaw. Pat DeMaria is my oldest friend. He lives in Lake Worth, Florida now, but still owns a house in Maspeth. I remember Sonny Barbaro as the neighborhood body builder. Tell me more about yourself. I remember the Old Homestead real well. My father used to take wedding pictures there, and I drank a lot of beer there.

Bill Shaw

3/28/2014 08:45:30

Hi Frank,

Yes, same Bill Shaw. Pat DeMaria is my oldest friend. He lives in Lake Worth, Florida now, but still owns a house in Maspeth. I remember Sonny Barbaro as the neighborhood body builder.

Tell me more about yourself. My memory needs refreshing. I remember the Old Homestead real well. My father used to take wedding pictures there, and I drank a lot of beer there.

Bill Shaw

3/28/2014 08:45:42

Hi Frank,

Yes, same Bill Shaw. Pat DeMaria is my oldest friend. He lives in Lake Worth, Florida now, but still owns a house in Maspeth. I remember Sonny Barbaro as the neighborhood body builder.

Tell me more about yourself. My memory needs refreshing. I remember the Old Homestead real well. My father used to take wedding pictures there, and I drank a lot of beer there.

Anyone out there from Madison or Woodbine Street between Fresh Pond and 64th Street?

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Bill Shaw

3/28/2014 08:47:53

Hi Frank,

Yes, same Bill Shaw. Pat DeMaria is my oldest friend. He lives in Lake Worth, Florida now, but still owns a house in Maspeth. I remember Sonny Barbaro as the neighborhood body builder.

Tell me more about yourself. My memory needs refreshing. I remember the Old Homestead real well. My father used to take wedding pictures there, and I drank a lot of beer there.

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Frank Marx

3/28/2014 16:26:47

I went to Bkln Tech. I hung out with Don Egan, Randy Carini, and Harry Herzog. I played a lot of ball at Farmers Oval. Also play softball mostly at PS 153. Joe moreo, Dom Moreo, were just a few more names. I live in Delaware. I have daughters and 10 Grand Children. Currently wintering in Naples Florida

Frank

Bill Shaw

4/1/2014 07:57:22

Hi Frank,
Spoke with Pat De Maria. Told him you and I were in touch. He and his sister Agnes were at a reunion of the old crowd from Ridgewood last year and saw Randy Carini (Don Egan too, I think). We used to chip in 25 cents whenever Randy had his Dad's car in the summer time, and he would drive a full car to Rockaway. Since you hung out with those guys, you were probably a couple of years older than Patty and me. We just young 72-ers now. Hope you are well and happy in Delaware. With 10 grandchildren you must keep busy. Best wishes,
Bill Shaw

Frank Marx

5/14/2014 21:00:15

Also played ball with Joe Artus, Joe Fleri, Walter Jerzembeck. Was blond haired back than when I had it. Just 73 now and playing golf. Carini is in Fort Lauderdale and has Facebook

Frank

Bill Shaw

5/18/2014 09:44:43

Hi Frank,
I remember Walter J. very well and Joe Artus. I believe he was a tall guy who was an excellent fast pitch softball pitcher and a slick pool player at the Fresh Pond Rd. pool hall -- the pool hall where my brother Bob got caught breaking and entering and was signed into the Army by father instead of Juvey.

Mary J

1/25/2014 08:47:26

I grew up in Ridgewood-The Best Memories-I still go back to shop
lol..Does anyone remember the toy store on Mrytle Ave? It was by Lerners and the Army Store on the block of Woolworths-omg..My father used to take me there when I was little-it was a small store front nitched in there-Ive searched cant find anything on it.

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ronnie stubing

1/25/2014 11:10:02

The store was called Schackne's. Named after the owner. He was Larry and his wife was named Gwen. I worked there during the Christmas season while I was in high school during the early 70's. Went to Grover Cleveland H.S.

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Chuck L

7/8/2014 20:17:17

Great memory! We used to shop there - mostly wishful thoughts but I remember the variety crammed into that space. Also back to school shopping at Woolworth or Kreskege ( spell ?).

Ken Scheu

11/30/2014 21:28:42

I remember Schacknes. Worked in a fabric store across the street ( Dana Textile) around '78. We all worked on Myrtle at some point. You might know one of my older brothers Billy or Donald from Grover Cleveland

Marjorie Pichel / Margie Graner.

4/8/2014 20:53:50

Great reading. I was born in 1938 and lived on Palmetto Street, across the street from the Ridgewood Grove. Moved to Stephen St. in the 40's, off Forest & Myrtle Ave's. Went to PS 77 and Grover Cleveland H/S. .Was a Drum Major for the PAL band. Anyone remember Ms. Brown, the music teacher, from Grover Cleveland H/S? She pushed me to audtion for the H/S of the Performing Arts on 46th St, in NYC. Graduated Rhodes Prep in NYC and became a Rockette in 1955. Good friend, Dottie Danninger Shea, a friend from Kindergarden, church and H/S died a few years ago and the blogs perked-up many memories of Ridgewood. Anyone around from my era?

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Mikey

5/31/2014 04:57:43

Hi Kathy, I got your grandfathers recipe from your grandfather. I practically lived at the nest and we were good friends. I knew your mom Kay also (vaguely). If they ever talked about he, they would have called me "Mickey"

I remember Russ's had three grandkids and from time to time he would have them in for burgers and cokes.

I moved out of New York many moons ago, but a few decades back I returned to visit family and I was surprised to see the Eagles Nest was still there. Seems like it was a biker joint complete with the row of mean looking machines lined up on Dekalb Ave.

Although intimidating, I walked in anyway and was greeted with stares and silence. When I ordered, it was ginger ale,because I had stopped drinking booze for health reasons long ago. The young thirty something behind the bar rolled his eyes.

That's when I saw the pictures on the mirror were exactly the same as they were when I last walked in the nest. The pope, Frank Sinatra and Your grandfather.

They weren't serving burgers then, I guess that era had passed.

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KATHY

6/4/2014 04:11:38

wOW THANKS MIKEY FOR RESPONDING he was such a great man its so nice to hear from someone who actually knew him Yes my mom was Kay. His burgers were the best Thankyou for your warm comments . I wish health and happiness for u and yours !!!

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Barbara K

9/1/2014 14:55:15

To Mike L.

Sounds as tho' I have a few years on you altho' as I was in college from 60-63. I went to St Brigid as did most of the Catholics on my street. Yeah, I played all the street games..even jump the johnny pump on the corner of Harman & Cypress better than all the boys. well, except one time. It was the day of my first communion. I was a vision in a white mother made dress. I got bored waiting for my aunt to show up for the celebration ...the johnny pump was calling me....That stupid dress got in the way of my high jump..ripped the thing, fell in the poop and spent 8 weeks on antibiotics for blood poisoning on my knee. Along the way of life, burned my confirmation dress and destroyed my wedding gown with mold. I guess white was never my color.
Did you know the Scalise kids from Harman or the Loud's from Menahan or Bleeker? After graduation and no money I moved with my parents to Stephen St. Summers were spent in the Grover Cleveland pool/park as well as Highland park. When we felt mischievous we took an unwitting subject to the crematorium and left them there. I remember the Majestic theater and Roy Rogers being on stage, the pool hall above and the bowling alley below. Roller skating at Flushing meadows, etc. keep writing

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Anita Maier Bischoff

7/31/2015 15:17:05

My cousins the Kirmse family lived on Harmon St. Frank was my age and went to st. Augustine's with a Joseph Betz. Annemarie is a domincan nun. Robert passed away about 2 years ago.The Scalise family lived next door to them. I knew them from birthday parties. one of the girls went to St. Michaels HS in East NY with me but we were in different classes and never hung out.

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barbara k

9/1/2014 15:00:00

OOPS...Post was to Chuck L, not Mike sorry

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Maus,,,

9/13/2014 23:22:23

I grew up on 355 Stockholm St across from Wyckoff Heights when the old hospital was being torn down and rebuilt we made it our playground and lots of kids got hurt playing in that ditch .We went to knickerbocker all the time to shop and played around down by the L train station riding the train a few stops and back .
My brother and I got jumped by P.R gang for no reason walking to school one morning busted his head wide open ( protecting me ) on our way to school -St.Aloyisious .
Remember Hanks candy store on Wyckoff Ave .
When I was 8 y/o we moved from Stockholm St in 1974 to 61st and Menehan St ,1 block from Fresh Pond Road and we would
walk 1 block to school to OLMM .
RIP to my brother ALAN 1962- 2007... miss you Bro

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susie

9/17/2014 19:06:44

Does anyone remember mrs. Anaboli candy store on irving avenue?

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Ronald

9/21/2014 09:32:22

What cross street?

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Anita Maier

9/21/2014 09:12:01

T Mike L. My cousins the Kirmse family lived on Harmon St. next to the Scalise family. Mr. Kirmse worked for Dugan's. I sort of remember the Scalise kids at birthday parties. Frank Kirmse went to St. Augustine HS. Anne Marie went to All Saints HS and became a Dominican nun and Professor at Fordham University. Robert Kirmse went to St. John's U. a few years after me and passed away in California about a year ago. Sister Anne Marie called me recently after many years and we're supposed to get together asap. I remember my late mom giving Elizabeth Scalise my outgrown uniforms from St. Michael's H.S. Hope this info. helps.

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susie

9/23/2014 08:00:09

It was between dekalb ave and hart street

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susie

9/25/2014 17:25:43

We used to go to the starr theater on knickerbocker avenue every saturday. I believe it was 25 cents for two movies. I believe there wa s a maltshop nearby called cameo. I loved shopping on knickerbocker ave. We had miles shoes and national shoe store. I have such wonderful memories of ridgewood,it was my whole world when i was a kid.sometimes in the summer, we would go to coney island if my mom had extra money. It was wonderful...........

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ron stubing

11/13/2014 14:46:35

I went to Grover Cleveland HS with George O'Conner and Dennis DeSilva. Lived on Stephen St between Cypress and Wycoff. Then moved to Glendale in 1972. Used to hang at PS 77 school yard and then PS 68.

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anthony

2/3/2015 11:30:27

I lived on Stephen, between Myrtle and Forest. Went to St. Matthias, graduated 1973. I married George's younger sister.

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robert williams

2/1/2015 06:09:03

Does anyone Remember a Candy Store on Onderdonk Ave and Grove Street across from the church run by two old men in the early 1960's ?

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Anita

7/31/2015 14:06:12

I remember that candy store on the corner of Grove St. and onderdonk Ave. i used to pass it every day going to St.Brig. We lived on Grove bet. Woodward and Fairview at #1914 in the 50's. Some neighbors were the Kern family. They also but a knitting mill across the street., the Schwalles inc.Lorraine and brothers.) and the Fetzers Then we moved to (upper Ridgewood) at 61-26 Linden St. off Metro. I liked Tom's candy store better. it was on Woodward bet. Grove and Menehan Strs across from Nardellas fruit store, filbert's and a bakery. Great memories.

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Kathy T

2/3/2015 11:45:26

Anyone out there know or knew Janet Kratzer or her brother, Richie, or sister Helen? They lived on Bleecker Street, right off Woodward Avenue.

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Laura Borowitz Halleran

2/12/2015 09:55:05

My grandmother owned Artie's Bar/Grill/Tavern on Grandview Ave; it's currently for sale. My sister and I have great memories of going to visit from Long Island. How many kids get to hang out in a bar and play that bowling game with sawdust and all the maraschino cherries you can eat?

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ron stubing

2/12/2015 10:02:39

I know Artie's. I hung out there a few times but I knew a lot of the regulars from the 80's and 90's. They had some great softball teams back then.

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LHall

2/12/2015 14:38:51

Anyone remember the name of the bakery (German?) next to the Onderdonk Upholstery Shop on Grandview?

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Rose Mary (née Uhlmann)

2/20/2015 00:23:01

I have just read all the various comments on this site and thank one and all for the journey back to my own childhood! Thank you Ron Stubbing for your comments re Schacknes Toy store. I would dearly love to have a photo of the inside of that store! how fondly I remember the little niche bookcase where I found my first Nancy Drew mystery book! And the best part of the store was the multi tiered cupboard shelves at the back of the store that held such an awesome display of dolls! Even in my teens I would often stop in just to stare at them! and to those who commented on Eagles Nest Tavern on Woodward Avenue, Mathilde and Alphonse who owned it were friends of our family. All of our parties were held in the back room of that bar
And when the couple sold the place and moved back to Germany, my husband and I very many years later had the opportunity od visiting them over there.
I could go on and on. I attended the original St Aloysius school and unlike some of you, loved each and every nun--even the so-called tough ones. I also have very fond memories of singing with the choir under the direction of Mr. Hellinghausen, of my first job answering the door at the rectory, and for those of you who mentioned the church bells,I want you to know my mother once climbed up into those bell towers on outside scaffolding when she was a young girl!

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Gail Douglass Govoni

3/11/2015 11:57:00

I was born in 1956, one of six children. My brother Peter was the oldest then Marilyn, Danny, Me, Scotty & Dorothy (Dotsy). We lived at 61-10 Metropolitan Ave. right across from Meyer Chevrolet. I remember there was a Bar on the corner of Metro & Fresh Pond Rd. My Dad would stop to have a beer after work. Every so often he would send one of us kids to pick him up a Schlitz, remember it used to be in a white paper cup. I also remember Riley's Dinner, best hamburgers & fries. There used to be a family that lived above the bar that really wished I could find them again. Their last name was Riley, not related to the people that owned the dinner. I used to play with the Riley boys, Dennis, Joey & Tommy. I remember Dr. Melzer that used make house calls, & I believe he delivered all of us kids.I also remember our Dentist on Fresh Pond, Dr. Cohen, I hated that guy! Life was good in Ridgewood. So many friends, so many good memories. I went to OLMM for six years, then to 71 & 93 before GC. Going to mass on Sundays & bringing home the newspaper & a big bag of soft pretzels.The Grandview Dairy was across the street. Living in AZ now, I sure do miss all of the great bakeries, especially Grimaldi's Bakery. We as kids never wanted to stay in the house. The neighborhood was filled with kids playing in the streets & parks, schoolyards. We wouldn't come home till it was time to eat, then run back out again to play. I could go on & on. Such fond memories growing up in Ridgewood, I'll have to come back & visit very soon.

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Irene Mosteirin

3/11/2015 20:44:05

Thanks for the Ridgewood Article, G., well done! I moved to 64-01 60th Place (corner Grove St.) when I was 3 years old, in 1960. It was a new 2-family house, in a row of new brick homes. Moved there with my parents and Grandparents, 2 brothers, Frank & Pete, full house! My family came from Austria (maternal) and Hungary (paternal); my first language was German. Learned English in first grade at Mirac, much like the immigrants from all over the world that are coming to and living in Ridgewood today. I married and moved to Long Island at 23, raised 2 kids in the burbs; when they up and went to away colleges, we sold the house and moved back to Ridgewood, back to my mom's house. Mom needed my help, it was all too much for her now living alone. When I got back there, my first impression was that folks who lived there now all gave up smoking and incessantly talked on cell phones while they walked (that was 2001). Today it's no biggie, but then it was striking. Also, the knitting mills and factories had dissappeared! The new immigrants all work in construction (many men) and the women clean houses. They put their toddlers in day care. The rents here have skyrocketed! What used to be like $200 p/m for a 2-bdrm, spacious apt. in the 70's, people are now getting like $2,000-$2500 for the same apt.! That's bc we now have "hipsters", twenty- somethings from the burbs who are upwardly mobile (many) and hiked the rents here as well as food costs. They are however, an interesting bunch, and are gentrifying the area slowly. Merchants are responding to them big time! Ridgewood is very, very diverse now, just today on my way home from Brooklyn, I saw a halal butcher shop, a first sighting, but of course, we do have an Arab population now (growing) and Chinese folks and....you name it! All in all, Ridgewood's never been a better place to live and we have upper Brooklyn (so chic now) in walking distance with decent restaurants and clean parks & lovely people.

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Dennis

3/25/2015 16:17:21

So many great memories came flooding back after reading these posts. We moved to Ridgewood in 1972. I was 11. We lived on Catalpa between Fresh Pond and 60th Lane. Went to PS 88 (my house was on 1 corner and the school was on the other), JHS 93. Hung out in PS 88 schoolyard (so sad when they extended the school and did away with the schoolyard) playing softball (if you hit the ball on the roof of Knights of Columbus, it was a homerun), football, basketball, handball and even dodgeball. Made great friends in that schoolyard, some I'm still in contact with, thankfully. Many a summer days were spent playing softball at 88 in the morning and then heading to Farmers Oval in the afternoon to play softball there. Great times that will never be forgotten.

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Lucy

4/5/2015 23:25:15

I came across this website while i was searching for informations about Ridgewood. I moved here in 2005 and i realized that i do not know much about the area since i was assigned at school to make a research on crime and drugs within my neighborhood. I I am interviewing my neighbors and friends. Would anyone be willing to help me out a little and write a personal opinion (anonymously) about felling safe/not safe in the neighborhood? Is it changing within years? Any experiences good/or bad? Any opinion will be very helpful. I am happy to share my report with you when is done. xoxo

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Melissa B

5/20/2015 18:45:51

Hello everyone. I just replied to someone but I wanted to post this for everyone to see. I recently found a diary in a house my dad was fixing up and I am determined to find who the diary belonged to and return it to them. The diary was written by Christina K Pestrak. From information in the diary I know she was born in 1958 (possibly October 18th). She lived in Ridgewood, NY and attended Grover Cleveland High School in 1975. The diary was found in NJ so she possibly moved or someone found it and took it with them. I'm not quite sure. If anyone has any more information or can get me in contact with her please let me know. I would love for her to get this diary back and read through her memories. Thanks everyone!

Melissa

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Mike A.

6/12/2015 09:40:14

Well, I lived in Brooklyn, but hung out in Ridgewood. I remember a dance club, to which I was a member of like Club Soiree. Bowling alley named Hart lanes. Played football in Starr St. Park. There was a bar named Friendly's on Onderdonk and DeKalb ave,where we hung out after the football games. Some of the guys were, the Plunkett's(twins),Conglin, Macgrane, Marino,Schnupp, many more to mention. My best friend is Joe Licari, who has since past on. Just saying Hello, and I hope life treated you guys good. Would like to hear from any of you guiys...

Well, I'm from Brooklyn, and hung out in Ridgewood from the early 60"s to the early. My best friend Joe Licari, very sorry to say has since past. would walk every night to Ridgewood to hang out with the best bunch of guys in the world. Our friends included, Schnupp,Conglin, Marino, Plunkett's (twins) Macgrane, DeSilva. many many more. We hung out in Starr st park, played football,then went to Friendly's Bar on onderdunk and DeKalb ave. We bowled at Hart Lanes on Wycoff ave. We had a dance club on Sydam and Wycoff, named Club Soiree, to which I was a member of. Just saying Hello, and I hope life has treated you fairly. If your around, you can always respond,would love to B.S.

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Antoinette

7/25/2015 02:47:20

Hello Ridge wood I lived on Grove st and Myrtle ave . Went to St Bridget's School . This was in the 50's early 60's My grandparents owned a 6 family home that is still standing on Grove st . I was amazed at the price it sold for . We lived with a play street sign for the cars to go slow , Played all those kid game stick ball -skating -johnny on the pony . At lunch time we went to the deli across from the school danced and ate pizza for lunch , in our uniforms and saddle shoes , We had so much fun growing up in Brooklyn , We as kids made our fun , Used to go to the record store and buy records 2 for !.00 sometimes they were on sale .Harmonizing in the street where we can hear the echoes from our voices ,Hot dog truck was on a corner selling dogs two for a dollar. Yes it was Italian and German.and Irish ,stores were John Bargain store much like our dollar store . pretzels were 3 for 25 cents .WE collected bottle caps put wax in them to make them go faster on the stress when we played the game ,We hung out at the school yard where all our friends met In those days sneaking a cigarette and have our radios listening to Murray the K and Cousin Bruise. We did have so much fun , WE could walk the streets at night the air was fresh , . I am sure things went on that we all were unaware of but we were in groups . My mom sat on the stoop with friends had coffee . I can still hear them laughing. Those were the days and the memories I had of Ridge wood and do not forget the RKO movie . and Paramount and the ice cream parlors that I see no more .I am now a grand mother and love my grand children to death , but all I see is the phone and the texting and video games , Well they are happy , but I was happier because I have my memories ,
thanks
Antoinette

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mike

7/31/2015 14:40:09

We hung out in Starr street park, guys like Tex, Big Nick, the Plunketts, and a kid named Jocko, and Terry King who lived on
onderdonk ave, too many to list. If you guys are out there my e-mail address is mamico@broadandcassel.com.. I hope everyone is
well....